Saturday, February 2, 2013

Scrappy Trip Finish and Great Mail

I finished this one last week, a matter of hours before our guild meeting.
The blanket's a little wrinkly with a giant fold down the middle, but lemme tell ya - it was some friggin' cold outside.... It was downright polar.
Since I was using only scraps for the top, I made sure it would have at least a little continuity and arranged all my block strip so that they progressed from dark to light with a grey, black or navy fabric running down the centre diagonal. They were looking pretty ghastly individually but once I laid them out, they took a different look through the camera lens. I didn't know ahead of time if it would be pretty or horrid so I determined ahead of time, whatever the outcome, it was going to be a blanket for cuddling up at night in the gazebo this summer.  This might have been a mistake to make that decision too early as I got pretty careless with the quilting and binding as a result.... lol.
Apparently, whatever was going on with my hand was so strenuous, I was unable to stand up straight. 

I arranged them light corners to light corners, dark to dark, which gave me this rising/sinking effect.
To emphasize the light and dark effect, I quilted it with lines running through each dark diagonal all through the quilt and then concentric squares through the rest.  Since there's no batting inside, I wanted to be sure I had quilting through each and every square, though it doesn't really show up.   I decided against batting* (which made it much trickier to baste and quilt - slippy!) as I didn't want it to be too heavy for a summer blanket but I did want it to have some coziness to it, so it's backed in a Caravan flannel, which is the only thing I purchased for this quilt. It's bound entirely in leftover binding, which feels pretty good, too!
This flannel sucked me in.  I'm usually not a florals person but this one just makes me happy....
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I was lucky enough to get a copy of Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe from Audrie at Blue is Bleu. You should read her, if you don't already. Definitely a kindred spirit.

The book is great, and full of people that already populate my RSS reader so it made it that much cooler.... Thanks, Audrie!  I owe you one. And by one, I mean a few. :-)

*Dana at Old Red Barn made some 'outside' quilts last year without batting and I loved that idea...  You should also read Dana's blog. Also a kindred spirit.

23 comments:

  1. The quilt looks gorgeous - that was a great layout for it!

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  2. I love how your scrappy trip has come together - your use of value is wonderful! If I ever make one yours will definitely be inspiration (errr nice way of saying I'll copy it shamelessly?)

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  3. Okay, so you make a 'squares' quilt and you still blow me out of the water! Your squares are 1/5 the size of mine AND you put them in a colour pattern! I also adore that fabric on the back - reminds me of one of my mom's old batiks from the '60's.

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  4. Beautiful quilt. And as you know, I also got that new book and it's GREAT! I'll definitely be making a few out of it.

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  5. Carly! I love it! I like that there is a plan to the layout. I hope you enjoy the summer snuggles with it.

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  6. Looks great. Thanks for explaining your design decisions. I have been looking at others online, wondering whether they were put together randomly, or the extent to which some planning was made for each block.

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  7. Hi! That's so beautiful! I love the way you have arranged the colours! Quilting so very well even without batting. I made my first two quilts without batting and for the summer use. I thought I could manage to quilt them and also I knew that we could use them a lot (even in summer they are too hot).
    Your backing is also beautiful! I should try flannel, too. x Teje

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  8. I love this! I appreciate you explaining what causes that sinking feeling. I made a color planned, one of these, eons ago and that is so very different. I really like the dark strips, they add so much depth. And I'm planning a no batting, summer quilt, soon, too.
    And I understand your polar weather, but your quilt photography is beautiful nonetheless!

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  9. Very nice Carly. Not horrid at all. It's a riot of colour that has a definite pattern. So....how cold was it?
    I like your scraps by the way ; )

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  10. It looks great... like it was meant to be!

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  11. I really like your arrangement! The dark lines really unify it. :)

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  12. Looove the quilt! I don't know how you take photos outside when it's so bloody cold!!! And you're welcome :) Muak!

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  13. Completely marvelous, my dear. Absolutely fantastic.

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  14. This is wonderful! I love the darks, they make the pattern pop so much more than most quilts of this pattern.

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  15. Taking photos outside is a hoot when it's cold. You have to be quick before the batteries get too cold to function, lol! Your quilt just begs to be cuddled in and I bought (read got sucked into buying) the same book. It's really good with lots of great ideas and inspiration. How's the ugly FQ challenge going? ;)

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  16. Wonderful finish. The light to light, dark to dark worked really well. Love the quilt!

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  17. Carly - that is so gorgeous. I love it. You have such a way with color.

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  18. So pretty, Carly! Good for you to make it a finish already! At our MQG program last night, one of our members demoed the Scrappy Trip Around the World, and had 16 blocks sewn together to show us. Really nice. The design is so versatile for a variety of fabrics. Your planned placement is great! Interesting about the no-batting approach. I have never done that. Makes me wonder if all the effort of quilting is to any effect. There's so much dimension with FMQing that's done WITH batting. FMQing must "fade out" without batting. Is that right?

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  19. Beautiful! Love the dark edges to the squares- so classy! Also that flannel is so rich! WEll done!

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  20. Oh, I love that quilt. you know, i haven't been keen on these but they have grown on me in the last year, and yours is stunning!

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  21. Oh, wow, it's AMAZING! I love all that tiny detail, and the movement in the colors. Well done!

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  22. Love yours! The darks are so great!

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  23. cool blog awesome quilt Deb

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