WIP Wednesday: more scrappy tripping along

I've been feeling the itch to get caught up here on the ole blog and couldn't decide where to start as I have many completed projects and my forever sewing room cleanup/organization project. So I think I'll continue to tell you about my most current WIP.

I knew I didn't have enough of my fat quarter bundle to pull off the whole quilt but at the same time wasn't sure about how much I actually needed.  I was worried about cutting too much of any given fabric or what colors I needed to supplement.  What I needed to do was get the blocks finished that I was working on and just see where I stood.

So I let my strip sets sit around for a while until the other night when I sat down with a Downton Abbey rerun (I have A LOT to say about that show!!) and sewed up the rest of the blocks I had prepped.  Here's an idea of what it will look like.  I'm really loving it!

I have 13 blocks finished and am planning on 30 total. I'm not as far along as I'd hoped but I have some new fabrics to add in and I think it's going to turn out really cute.

 

I plan on backing it with the blue chevron and binding with the red dots! 

This is one quilt that I'm hoping to finish for myself in record time.  I started it in January and hope to have it all done in the next month or so.  

I'm also mulling over an Amy Butler Weekender bag.  I got the pattern for Christmas and am currently debating fabric choices: buy something new? or use up my stash?  Tough decision.

scrappy trip around the world

I drank the kool aid folks.  There was this amazing surge of awesomeness happening on Instagram a couple of weeks ago.  Lots of little scrappy blocks turning into beautiful quilt tops in what seemed like seconds!

It is basically a trip around the world quilt made with 2.5" squares!  It's strip pieced with a twist to make it so easy!! Go see the tutorial at Quiltville, I'm not going to explain it all again, but I'll show you some pictures of what I've been up to!  You can also see many more by searching #scrappytripalong on Instagram or Twitter.

Remember when the lovely Fat Quarter Shop asked me to curate a fat quarter bundle for them?  I decided this bundle would be the perfect start for this quilt.  Although, to make a large lap quilt it's not quite enough fabric!  So I went to my LQS and picked up some red Riley Blake mini chevrons and dots!

I needed to keep all of these strips organized since I was not doing a true scrappy look. So I pulled out my clothes drying rack and hung them all right there next to my sewing machine! Perfect!

 

I chain pieced strips together in sets of two and then again into sets of four.  And they went together really quickly!

After sewing these sets into tubes (the tutorial explains this and it make more sense once you see it) I cut them across the seams into strips of little blocks! yippee!

Once you get the strips organized and sewn back together you get something like this:

And I have all of these small 2.5" strips left over that I am going to be able to use for a baby quilt.  I'm excited about that too.  I just love these fabrics so much.  And the colors!! They make me happy.

This may be the Chinese year of the rat snake - but for me? It's the year of the quilt. I've got plans to finish up some UFOs!!