Upper Left

My Many Trips Around the World quilt is about 25% finished.  I finished sewing the upper left quadrant together.

 

 

 

I sewed the top four rows together but left the fifth row unattached.  That way, I could put it back on my design wall and use it to lay out the lower blocks, as a guide to help me get the color placement correct. 

 

 

It is still a little tricky because the quilt shrinks so much in size as it is sewn together.  For example, this section was 50" across on the design wall but only 38" across after sewing.  Clearly, the new pieces being added at the bottom don't exactly line up to the guide row but it still helps to have it there.

 

This week, I'll focus on sewing the lower left part of the quilt together, after which I can move to the right side of the quilt.  I've received several queries asking how I go about the constuction of this quilt.  I'm planning a tutorial on it but need to finish the quilt top first before I finalize the tutorial.  It will probably take me another month or so.