super scrappy #scrappytripalong

wow, what a crazy ride this has been!! the #scrappytripalong seems to have taken over the world. well, ok... my crafty corner of the instagram world at least, and isn't that what counts?

as it was first taking off, i might have said to Brenda, "i just don't like the idea of ripping all those seams. i'll just piece mine with quilters grid." um... sadly, she did not reach through the phone to strangle me or point out what an absurd plan this was. but, in the end, it all worked out fan-tab-ulously, so perhaps i should concede that she was right to encourage my insanity industriousness.

here's a peek into how things got started...


fist i cut lots of 2.5" squares (thanks to a few mini charm packs i had a head start). i learned that my stash is bizarrely short on greens, but that i have quite a variety in the blues and pinks. good to know.

i cut four 20" squares of quilters grid and fused the squares... learned a bit of a lesson here as well. ironing on the kitchen table, even with two towels, is not a good plan. there may be a little evidence of said lesson on our kitchen table... oops. new plan: lay out half of the squares while on ironing board, fuse, and then repeat with other half. much better and i hope we've all learned a lesson here.

so... fuse squares to grid. then, stitch all of the seams in one direction. trim a teeeeny bit off of the seam allowances and then press seams open.

stitch seams in other direction and do the same thing with seams. i like to pin even with the grid to make sure that my points line up perfectly. it really is like magic. it would have taken so much longer to piece all of these little squares.

after the four center blocks were complete, i was not interested in making another dozen... so i decided that some blocks on a larger scale were in order, got out the markers and graph paper and did a little coloring to see if that was a viable plan.

the remaining twelve blocks were then made with 4.5" squares (each block finished at 16"). these blocks i pieced without the quilters grid. i just laid out a few at a time and then chain pieced the squares.


after some rearranging, the final layout was set and stitching the blocks together went fairly quickly. her is the finished quilt top:

and a few details of the patchwork:

up next... this top will be sent off to Shelly at Prairie Moon Quilts for some orange peel quilting. i can't wait to see how it turns out!!

what about you? have you joined in yet?

for more info about the #scrappytripalong, look for the hashtag on instagram or twitter, follow along the flickr group here, find the tutorial from Quiltville here, and get tips on cutting scrappy strips for your quilt from Brenda here.

happy stitching!