BLOG 185

 

Sometimes a girl just can’t help herself! I have just spent a concentrated three weeks on the horse wall hanging and I have cleaned and tidied my chaos away. My thoughts then turn to what I should be doing next but I feel that I need a quick fabric fix. So I have embarked on a Scrappy Trip Round the World. It is one of those quilts that I have seen often on the internet and I have always wanted to have a go at the pattern, using my Batiks fabrics. I am going to use the over-dyed fabrics which are often difficult to use, so here goes!

Scrappy Trip Round the World

For each square cut 6 strips: 2 ½” x 16” (I have chosen to start each group with a dark strip)

                                                     6 strips

 Sew the strips together with an accurate ¼” seam allowance.

                                        Accurate seam

                                           Joined strips

Press the seams in the same direction for ease of cutting away. I am ironing away from the darkest strip.

                                       Press the seams

Sew the first strip to the last strip to make a tube

 

                                          Make a tube

 Press to make the tube flat in preparation for cutting. Straighten the top edge if necessary and cut across the tube at 2 ½” intervals.

                                        2 ½” strips

This will give you 6 sections and a bit over (your margin of error!).

                                                  6 sections

Starting with the darkest square at the top (#6), undo the seam allowance between #6 and the adjacent square #1. (I just cut every 4^th stitch and then tug the seam to undo it.) Then undo the seam between #1 and #2 and the between #2 and #3 … and so on. Continue in this way, laying out the strips in sequence beside the sewing machine.

                                       Sequence of strips

Sew the strips together in sequence with a ¼” seam allowance. Alternate the seam allowances so you can butt them together. You can pin each seam or do as I do and nestle them together with your finger.

                                        Butt the seams

And before you know it you have a 12 ½” block.

                                             Building block

Continue to join strips in sequence, make tubes, slice and stack next to your sewing machine in readiness to sew more building blocks.

 

                                      Slice and stack

And before you know it, you have a pile if blocks. More next week.

 

                                               Pile of blocks

PS Next Saturday February 8^th, I will be teaching ‘A STRING OF DIAMONDS’ workshop based on the quilt shown below.

 

                                       String of Diamonds

 
The class will be held at the Royal Pavilion in Llangollen, 10am to 4pm as part of QUILTFEST. There are lots of places still available on the workshop so if you are interested, the details can be seen at this link www.quiltfest.org.uk Follow the workshop link to find the workshop details. Come and join me!