How many Strips Does it Take? – a cutting guide for the Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt Along

Last night I got another 6 strip sets all sewn up for my Scrappy Trip Along quilt.

I didn’t have a whole lot of sewing time but it was nice to see some more progress.  I’m totally excited to get this top finished.  Especially after seeing Katy’s and Rita’s finished.   And wow! there are a lot of amazing quilts being shown off in our Flickr group and on Instagram (search #scrappytripalong).  There’s now over 300 people in the Flickr group and over 750 photos with that IG hashtag.  Amazing.  Seriously, I think that the amount of people who are excited and involved in this quilt along is awesome.  Just chatting with a few people it seems that these informal types of quilt alongs are just what people need.  I know I get asked several times a week if not daily to have Pink Castle Fabrics sponsor some type of blog hop, or quilt along, or whatever.  I don’t think everything out there needs to be some sort of moneymaker or competition.  Even those of us who sew/sell fabric for a job still got into this gig because we like sewing!  I know I’m not the only one out there who is exhausted and just misses sewing for fun.  Katy and I talked about instigating one new informal quilt along each month this year.  Something simple and quick and stash/scrap busting.  No contest, no deadlines, no strings.  Just pop a tag on your smart phone photo of your progress and oogle at others’ beautiful work.   What do you think?  Are you in?

Since this Scrappy Trip quilt is my favorite quilt right now I think I’m going to make another, possibly as a leaders/enders quilt.  Bonnie K. Hunter, the woman behind the tutorial for the Scrappy Trips, also has a great post about what are leaders and enders and a book, Adventures with Leaders & Enders: Make More Quilts in Less Time! (which I just ordered tonight).  I learned about them from Rossie who has made several quilts using this technique and I’m a little obsessed now that I’ve tried it.  I’ve just been sewing 2.5″ squares together and I now have a bunch of 16 patches for another project.   I will show off more about them soon.  Anyway, I digress, I need to know how many strips to cut up and put in a bin for my next Scrappy Trip quilt once this one is complete.  So, here’s some quick math for all of you (I mean, I already did the work…):

I’m not sure I’m ready to go Queen…but who knows…

I will have a lot of sewing to show off next week!  I’m going to a quilting retreat this weekend with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild!  YAY!!

~Brenda