Scrappy Trip Around the World

When I went up into the loft just after Christmas to put the decorations away I stumbled across a bag stuffed full with old clothes that I had made for my daughter when she went to university twenty years ago.  They were all made of cotton as she has sensitive skin.  My heart skipped a beat.  I thought there must be yards and yards of good, usable stuff there.  I brought them down and washed them to freshen them up.  I even tried on a few items, dresses, skirts, shirts, trousers, tops.  Daughter came and saw them and fell in love with them all over again.  She tried on a few bits but decided that it wasn't quite the look she wanted these days. I told her I intended cutting them up for quilting.  She said I should keep them for Sophie, my 5 year old granddaughter, for when she is older, but I managed to persuade her otherwise.  She said I could make a quilt for her, so that is what I'm going to do.

I want it to be a surprise for her birthday in April, but the problem is she comes to me for her dinner after work most days so I'm going to have to be really good and clear everything away before she comes in.  Yesterday was a Snow Day so she stayed at her own house so I thought it would a good time to make a start.

I cut and ripped everything into usable pieces, pressed them and then cut them into the 16" x 2 1/2" strips that I need.  I worked out that to make a 24 square quilt I would need 144 strips,  24 navy strips and 12 strips from each of 10 other fabrics.  I had to supplement the aqua strips on the end with some other blue floral fabric as I couldn't cut enough from the aqua.   This should make a quilt about 72" x 48", and with a border added to that, will make a generous sized quilt for lounging on the sofa.

I finished cutting late last night, but I couldn't go to bed without seeing what one block would look like so made one quickly.

I'm going to use the dark navy as a constant in all of the blocks, through the middle like this one, to give the pattern a bit more of a structure.  Today I'm going to get all of the strips sewn together in their strip sets and have a big pressing session at the end.