Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Trip Around The World Quilt - Finished Top

An upside of this year's pandemic is that I've been a prolific quilter.  I have another finished top, a design called Trip Around the World.  




Trip Around the World has long been on my quilting bucket list but I wasn't sure how to machine piece it.  Years ago, I saw directions for hand piecing this quilt, one round at a time, but figured that would be too time consuming for me to handle.  

Then I happened upon the summer issue of American Patchwork & Quilting and there it was.







APQ has been running a regular feature with directions for reconstructing a vintage quilt from the collection of the editor, Jody Sanders.  Their instructions show how to piece this quilt on the diagonal (duh!) and they give fabric requirements.  

I wanted this quilt for our family room and drew fabrics from my stash, inspired by the upholstery fabric in this throw pillow.   Our family room is the sun room, with windows on three sides and the remaining walls painted a dark, teal green.  We have one teal green arm chair, a beige tweed couch, and beige tweed carpeting.  This upholstery fabric is in the pillows and the window treatments.  



I wanted a smaller quilt than the quilt in the magazine, so I subtracted one square from the middle column and added fewer rounds.  Here's the start on my design bed.  While you could theoretically strip piece this entire quilt, my strips tend to start bowing or going wonky in some way when I join more than five together so I limited myself to three or four at a time.  



I pulled the fabric from my stash, then planned three or four rounds as I went along.  I knew I wanted to end with green but none of the other rounds were definite in my mind, I just kept trying things.  I bought this green tone on tone fabric in a quilt shop some years ago, sure it was a good match for our walls and while I used it in another quilt, I still had several yards left.  

You don't need much fabric for the early rounds.  The center can be made from scraps and early rounds can use a left over jelly roll strip or fat quarter.  But as I worked my way outwards, the fabric requirements grew, with intermediate rounds using about a half yard, and the outer most rounds a yard of fabric.  

Most of the fabric came from my stash, but I did purchase three pieces to round out the selection.  



The finished top is 64" by 72" and is already with my longarm quilter.  


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5 comments:

  1. Love your quilt. So soft and pretty. That must be from the August issue- I have 3 years left on my subscription and somehow I never got renewed before October! I wanted that issue fir the blue/ white quilt too. Oh well, it’s not hard to get inspired, is it? Thanks fir sharing!

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  2. This is gorgeous and the colors so fun. It's a beautiful vintage finish. I've loved this pattern too and never thought about a diagonal stitching plan. It's interesting how much fabric the outer rounds took. Great job.

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  3. Your quilt is absolutely stunning! Now you can never change your color scheme in your sunroom! Ha ha ha. Live a long, healthy life to enjoy your beauty in the great sunlight of your beautiful room.

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  4. I love your Trip Around the World Quilt! It is gorgeous and goes so well in your sun room. I love it when quilts work into the decor. I made a TATW quilt once years ago and it's on my father's bed. You have me thinking I need to make another one!

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  5. Your TATW turned out lovely. I think your color choices were a great balance of darks & lights. This pattern is one of the few I have always liked, but was a bit intimidated to try making. After being inspired by how well yours turned out & the photos you shared, I now think I should give it a try. I appreciate the yardage estimates you provided. Can't wait to see how it looks once it's back from being quilted.

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