627handworks

I don’t really know what to call this quilt.  It’s a 60 degree triangle hexagon jelly roll quilt?  I made this from a Salt Air jelly roll by Cosmo Cricket for Moda by sewing 3 strips together.  Then cut out 60 degree equilateral triangles and sewed them into hexagons.  Measures 60″ x 64″.

Started working on it last fall then completely lost interest. My dogs kept trampling through my layout and I was just super frustrated with the whole thing.  Then one glorious day a few weeks ago, my husband put up a design wall for me. WHAT! I was missing out! It’s not very tall because my craft room is in a dormer with angled walls, but jeeze Louise. So much easier than getting into fights with my little pups over floor space. That day I dragged out all of the pieces and blocks I had and got to work.

I tried something different than a stipple for the quilting. On the border (which is an old navy sheet!) I did some free motion waves.  Then straight line quilted in 2 directions to create a diamond pattern on the back.

My favorite thing about this quilt is actually the binding.  The only thing I would have done differently is make the white triangles navy, like the border and the back.

Now… I can get back to my Scrappy Trip Around the World!

This quilt block is called a Scrappy Trip Around the World. Also known in my world as Rippin Stitches.

You know the old saying, “If your friend jumped off a cliff, would you?”  My smart teenage mouth usually replied with, “probably”.  Well… I’ve been seeing TONS of the Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks on Instragram, Twitter and the Blogworld.  So I’ve jumped the cliff and joined in.

Tutorial is at Quiltville.  It’s genius. Really.

You can make your blocks all matchy-matchy with jelly rolls, use coordinating fabrics, or go crazy with assorted scraps. I’ve decided on the latter having never made a scrap quilt.  I’m really excited about it!  I tried to keep out some of the plaids and darks. I knew I hoarded scraps for a reason.

There is also a Scrappy Trip Along Flickr group and the Instagram hashtag is #scrappytripalong .

I’ve cut up 180 strips, so I’ll have enough for thirty 12″ blocks. At the rate I’m going (4 the first day, 5 last night) it probably won’t take long at all. I’m already loving it!  Happy Scrappy Trippin.

First, I apologize for the picture. It’s the only one I have with me and it was taken with my phone. As soon as I have time I’ll upload some more pics.

If this has been done with charm packs before I haven’t seen it, but I’m sure it’s out there!  I have a pretty large stash of charm packs and pulled one out and starting playing with layouts. Before I knew it I realized I could make a giant star quilt block using 40 charms.

This Superstar Quilt is easy and sews up fast.  Would be great for a quick baby shower gift. Or put 4 or more together for a bigger quilt.

Materials:
Charm Pack (40 5″ squares)
24 white 5″ squares
4 white 9.5″ squares

Optional 3″ Border:
1/4″ yard border fabric cut into four 3″ strips

Place 16 white squares and 16 charms right sides together.

Sew corner to corner. Cut 1/4″ away from the seam on one side.  These will become your “points”.

Layout your pattern so you are happy with the color placement.

Sew into blocks:

Sew the blocks into rows:

Sew the rows together and… voila!  SUPERSTAR

And I can’t help it, but in my head I say “superstar” like Molly Shannon’s SNL character Mary Catherine Gallagher. Forgive me.

Oh, and don’t you just LOVE those fabrics?  It’s the only little bit of Dream On fabric by Urban Chicks for Moda that I had.  I was saving it for something special.

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Recently I came across an old quilt block that was originally published in the Kansas City Star. It was titled Carnival Time and had hand drawn pieces.  Let’s just say I got most of it worked out ok, except the center spoke.  There was NO making that thing match up, let alone sew it on. (You can see the original on the last page of the Pattern PDF.

I decided to try and come up with a cleaner version, WITH a seam allowance, and it works pretty well.  For me.  It’s still teensy bit wonky, but that may be because I’m not the greatest block maker. Piecer?

Carnival Time would probably be a great quilt block to paper piece, but… I like it quick and dirty. Paper piecing is just too much time and effort. And, I confess, I still haven’t *quite* got it figured out.

The above PDF includes my version of the pattern (minus that crazily scary center spoke), a bit of block construction info and the original KC Star copy.

The center spoke would be fairly easy to add back in if you just sewed a little color to the corner of the center triangles first.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know!