Last Friday I became determined to make my sister in-law a quilt. I had spent months procrastinating, putting idea after idea up on the design wall and pulling it all down again. All I really had to go on was that she loves blue and is a no-nonsense, straight talking, fabulous woman. Finally I decided to do a blue trip around the world quilt. I delved into my stash and pulled out all my blue solids, which I was surprised to discover was a substantial wad and set to work.
I spent Saturday merrily cutting 2 1/2 x 16 1/2 inch strips from my pile of solids. I loved the colours together but I was becoming less and less sure about the quilt design. As my darling husband commented on Saturday evening “don’t those trip around quilts tend to have patterns in them”. Yes my nervousness at the lack of pattern in my fabric was getting to me. I had made a solid trip along before which turned out nicely…
but I was still nervous about it. With no other viable options at this point, I continued the process – sewing the strips in groups of 6, then sewing it into a tube, then cutting the tube into 2 1/2 strips. If you have done a Trip Around the World you know the process… if you do not know what I am talking about Quiltsville is where it all started. So now I had a stack of strips of squares…
Usually you pull your tube’s apart and put them back together in just a way to get this block…
but it was at this point in the process I threw out the instructions and went a little wild. I started sewing random strips together so my blocks look more like this…
I was not sure if it would work, but the idea of doing another Trip Around quilt all of a sudden was not at all appealing. So now I have a wild, pixelated, modern quilt that is coming together like this…
And I love it. I am so thrilled with how my deviation from the plan is working out. I am embracing the random and the crazy and just going with it. So far I have 8 blocks done and have 22 more to go. My design wall currently looks like this…
and I am so thrilled. It was not how I planned things, it is so much more cooler.
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I love this! The blue is great, and I love the pixelated randomness!
Loving all the blue. It was a great decision to make the randomness.
It’s great, I love the randomness.
The Scrappy Trip technique seems to ensure randomness. I really struggle with it usually (I like repetitive patterns in my quilts) but it comes so easily with this technique.
oh yes! this is definitely the right choice! i am loving this and it is going to be stunning in the end!!!
Thanks m’dear. I hope my sister in law likes it… if not you can have it!
I love it when a plan going wrong turns into something right! It looks fabulous.
I had no idea it would work out this way but I may abandon my plans more often after this experience.
Wow! That’s gorgeous! The Husband had just remarked that I’m part bowerbird and therefore this quilt is definitely my thing (for those of you who don’t know, bowerbirds collect blue things -paper, clothespegs, bits of plastic, bottlecaps – and assemble them into a ‘bower’ to attract the ladies… It has to be blue!).
LOL. I love the satin bower bird. I worked in Lamington National park for a while and had several blue cloths pegs taken by one of the local birds.
They like blue biros too!
I like it! And I’m very impressed that your husband knew about TATW. Mine understands when I say “quilt cam” but we don’t go any farther than that!!
It is a quirk of his, he likes to know stuff. He can now identify quilt blocks, can baste a quilt and is becoming more and more opinionated. It has it’s advantages and disadvantages.
Looks like a cool pool on a hot summer day to me, how nice!
Oh I would like a hot summer day about now. It is wet and cold here and the blue is making feel a little colder. Next quilt will have to have some warmth in it.
Hey Cath, it looks really nice! Love the randomness and the really modern design. Great work. Looking forward for the next pictures 🙂
I SO love this! Although a scrappy trip would’ve been cool, too, this is way more appealing.
I love it…reminds me of a summer pool! It’s the perfect time of year to be reminded of a summer pool! 🙂
Love this. Some of my favorite quilts have been ones where I abandoned an original idea, usually because a mistake forced me to, and came up with something much better. Well done!
I love those blues! I just passed on your Urban Chickens pattern to another girlfriend today. Loving what you do with colour. Great job!
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So glad that you believe in yourself enough to let it happen for better or worse. I definitly love the random modern look and your sister in law will love it, too!!
I love it! I just wanted to say thanks… I’ve just found your blog recently and WOW! You are incredibly prolific, and so inspiring. Thanks for sharing
Sometimes you just have to ‘throw caution to the wind’. I did that with my MiL’s quilt when filling in all the background blocks. I literally just picked up the next piece and randomly sewed. It worked great. As is your quilt … it’s working out great!
Very cool! I love it too! 🙂
What an awesome quilt! I love it!
Gotta love it when that happens.
Your random blue quilt is turning out wonderfully.
I like the randomness. I think you’ve made the right call.
Coincidentally, I am playing with blue on my design wall too, but all loudly patterned. At this stage I really have no idea what I am doing.
I love the colors and the randomness too. I had planned on doing a scrappy trip is solids with beachy colors….someday.
Love the randomness! It’s like a pixelated view of under the sea or something! Can’t wait to see what you pick for the binding and backing. This is going to be amazing!!!
I love it, I just do. It makes me feel like I’m staring into an aquarium in the darkness – it positively glows. Bravo for following your inner voice – it’s a brave thing to do.
P.S. I used your little print in an Economy block – it’s on my blog if you are interested. Thank you again!
That’s great! love the way it turned out! I am really enjoying all of your quilts- thank you!
I love how this is coming together! I think the randomness really highlights all the shades of blue and makes them play very well together. I’m sure your sister is going to love it :o)
It looks wonderful! I am a fan of throwing the pattern out the window when it suits your purpose 🙂
You mean you’re not going to throw a star in there?!
Only kidding . . . I’ve just been enjoying all your paper pieced stars :o)
The randomness and blue look great! I am not too good with random but this technique could work for me!
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