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Thursday, March 7, 2013

#scrappytripalong

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And there was no guarantee that the sun predicted for my work day would last till my day off or even that evening. So I took my camera and my finished Scrappy Trip quilt to work, and on my lunch break, took a saunter around the building.
The #scrappytripalong on Instagram is totally responsible for me making this quilt in the first place. I had already had in my mind that I'd like to lower the level of my scrap bin this year, so when I saw these scrappy trips start popping up, I jumped right on the wagon and made my first block January 1.
 
I love quilt patterns where every block is like a new discovery - and as more and more blocks were added, it just kept getting better and better. The tutorial for the block is here, and seriously, this block is fun, easy, and dare I even say relatively quick.
After the first couple of blocks were pulled pretty randomly from my scrap basket, I started getting comments on folks liking the palette, so I went with it. The one constant was a gray print down the center of every block, which later influenced the gray metro circle backing and the scrappy gray binding.
When it came time to quilt, I really wanted to try something new-to-me, and settled on the orange peel. See this post by The Girl Who Quilts for some good pics and tips. I used white Aurifil 40wt 50wt thread, my go-to for piecing and quilting both. Now here's where this quilt took an odd little side-trip. I started the orange peel with my free-motion foot, and had serious trouble keeping control. So considering the curves were quite large (6"), I switched to my walking foot, but that really did not work for me either. SO {lightbulb!} I put my fm foot back on, and roughly marked a row's worth of curves with my hera marker. Bingo. That was just the bit of guidance I needed to stay on track. After a few rows of doing that, I was able to stitch the peels without any markings. Progress for sure. Shortly into quilting this one I decided it was fine to have it be a learning piece, so you'll see some peels that are near-perfect, and others that are decidedly not. But it's a journey, and I feel great about taking another step on mine.

38 comments:

  1. It's a great looking quilt - the colours are really pretty.

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  2. Fabulous quilt and how brilliant to take pics on your lunchbreak! :)

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  3. Looking great debbie!! I cant wait to finish mine!! I love you x plus scrappy one coming along too..

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  4. It looks fantastic!
    I love the idea and look of the grey through each block, it's just perfect!

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  5. I'm betting you had a few workmates making requests!
    Lovely finish.
    E xx

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  6. It looks fabulous, I must try one of these one day when my scrap bin is overflowing and my WIP list is short!

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  7. That's great, Debbie! Every quilt is still a learning piece for me.

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  8. Beautiful, Debbie! I went through a similar process when I attempted orange peels, though I gave up when you grabbed the Hera. Smart move! It is a wonderful finish. Did it make a dent in your scraps?

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  9. Beautiful quilt! Airy, colorful and simple! Love simple beauties - nothing excessive and so touching.

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  10. beautiful! I'm halfway through my second one... addicting for sure

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  11. Beautiful!!!
    I love the orange peel quilting, too!
    The only time I've used it was on a quilt with 4 inch squares - a little easier, but more time consuming!

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  12. I love the colours in your quilt, it just looks so lush. I hope to try the orange peel quilting one day soon and will keep your idea of marking with the hera marker in mind. I also love your pictures!

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  13. Debbie this is amazing! I just love your version to pieces, so bright and bold and perfectly scrappy!!

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  14. Scrappy T looks great. Just beginning to cut strips for mine. Hope to sew during a retreat in May! : )

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  15. Nice post Debbie. It looks fabulous. I have a picture saved of that same quilting and was planning on using my walking foot. Hope it works ; )

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  16. Beautiful Debbie. I marked mine as well when I did the orange peels. I think on a small scale, like if you did a 'peel' in each of the small squares (can you imagine??) it might be easier to do it without marking at all but on a large scale, marking makes a lot of sense, at least to start out until you get a feel for it. Curious, what's the finished size?

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  17. Your quilt came out very pretty! I think those that used a central color down the blocks ended up with the prettiest scrappy quilts...good job!

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  18. Wow! I love your quilt. I have been contemplating a scrappy quilt and I think you may have given me the inspiration!

    I cannot wait to give it a go. And also thanks for the heads up on the quilting too....

    I am a newbie to all of this and I so appreciate everyone sharing their expertise! Some great comments too!

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  19. Love your Scrappy Trip - such a fun quilt! I've finished one and I'm starting another and I have a third one bubbling in the back of my mind. All are coming out of my scraps but the pile doesn't seem to get smaller - hmmmm.

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  20. It's soo pretty!! I'm about to start quilting mine with the dogwood pattern from oh frannson, I'm a little bit scared but as you said its a learning curve

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  21. very nice indeed. You did a awesome job.

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  22. I love that there is a colour constant to all the blocks- makes it less scrappy and more cohesive! Great job!

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  23. Really love this - the colours you have used are beautiful!

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  24. Hee hee, glad I'm not the only one that takes finished quilts to work to photograph at lunchtime ;o)

    Yours looks great :o)

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  25. Orange peel quilting was a great idea.
    Your quilt looks beautiful!

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  26. Fabulous. Glad you persevered with the orange peel. Perfect for this type of quilt!

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  27. I just caught up on your last few posts...finishing that gorgeous scrappy trip along and serving 80 people. You're a brave woman!

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  28. This is seriously stunning! I don't know how you get so many projects churned out so quickly. Seriously talented!

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  29. It is a beautiful palette! I love the orange peel quilting idea--will keep that in mind!

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  30. Your quilt looks great. It's scrappy, bur those colors were made for each other! Thanks for sharing and daring the orange peel quilting!

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  31. I love your choice of colours in this quilt....even though it is so random, it looks so cohesive.

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  32. Your quilt is beautiful...love the colors!

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  33. It looks great! I think that a quilt like this is great for practicing FMQ because all the crazy fabrics help hide the wobbles.

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  34. It's so beautiful quilt, Debbie! I love quilts with small patches and your colours are wonderful! x Teje

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  35. I keep seeing these quilts, and I keep loving them. Yours has a semi-controlled color scheme, and I think that is what makes it work so well.

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  36. I love your scrappy trip! It's beautiful!

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  37. Fantastic quilt!! The scrappy trip is on my to do list :)

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