Scrappy Trips

Keryn and I managed to acquire a lot of fabric last year  that was very affordable and thus our respective stashes grew , um, quite a lot. Most of this was not the reproductions that I truly love but modern brighter colours that were still really appealing. Now we have to try and use it all!

I decided to make a Scrappy Trips, from Bonnie at Quiltville , found in the free patterns tab. I limited myself to orange, blue and green and a bit of yellow.

Hmm,so far so good, I liked the jumble of different patterns together, even if it was a bit chaotic.

However I wasn't such a fan of the blocks all set edge to edge like this. I tried different layouts but because I'd only made twelve blocks they all looked unbalanced. I was already sick of them and didn't want to cut any more out, so the diagonal orange lines seemed the only solution. And yet it was so busy I just wasn't satisfied. Plus it was too small.

So I scouted through the stash and found a soft yellow that sort of calmed things down a bit and put space into the chaos.

A suitable blue was finally found for the border and this top was done. I don't know why everything was so hard to decide on this project,  but at least I saw it through to completion. I made this pattern years ago and thought it was a real no-brainer to use up random fabric. I think I might need to go back to my browns and reproduction pinks for a while, at least I know how to use them without a struggle!

I looked at the cut offs from the end of the strip sets I'd sewn, and put them together into this little mat.  I like the random placing of the pieces and the different widths, it was good to use them up instead of putting them in the bin.

 

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Border Fabric Found

The stash yielded a half metre of this pretty blue green that suited the blocks perfectly. And it was also half price when I got it, which made me happy. I wish I'd bought more, it seemed to go with lots of other projects too, perhaps a trip back to see if there's any more available?.

I will be making these blocks again, a fullsize quilt would be pretty, or a child's quilt with novelty fabrics fussy cut for the centres....Every project sparks new ideas for future ones, we can never run out of ideas, fortunately!
 

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 I've been sewing away at various projects and making progress on all of them but had no finishes to show for my effort. I just seem to switch horses when I run out of cut pieces or get stumped on a decision. Lots of blocks being made, even new projects started but nothing being finally dealt with.

I count the top as a finish because Keryn and I sell a lot of projects as tops or sets  of blocks, some that I never intended to quilt. I just want the fun of trying the pattern or playing with fabrics outside my comfort zone.

I tried out this puss in the corner block as a way to use some "modern" scraps I had (as opposed to repro) and I made enough for a small top. They finish at six inches, using two inch strips.Twenty was enough to give me an idea of whether I thought they were a good idea, and I did like them. Super easy to piece and fun to combine the different prints.

So I sewed them all together with a scrappy white sashing and now I'm scrabbling through the stash to find a suitable border.

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