Trip Around the Sun Quilt

I am excited to share my new free quilt pattern 'Trip Around the Sun' The pattern for this quilt will be available at Cool Cottons and the quilt will be hanging there in March. This is my second quilt I have made for Marie. The first one was a quilt called  'Off the Wall' that I made way back in 2011. You know those quilts you wish you had never given away? Off the Wall was one of them...

Trip Around the Sun soaking up the rays

For this quilt you use 5 different 1/8 yard cuts of analogous colors (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel) and a solid neutral. The initial blocks are pieced together using the method made popular by Bonnie Hunter for her Scrappy Trip Around the World, which sparked the #scrappytripalong Instagram craze at the beginning of 2012. I added my own little twist and voila: the Trip Around the Sun was created! 

I heart FMQ and making pebbles with the BSR

I have been borrowing a Bernina 820 from the generous crew at Modern Domestic and I have been learning how to drive it. The big areas of negative space were crying out for me to be brave and use that BSR. It was completely hypnotizing to draw all those little circles. I can't wait to practice some more!

Trip Around the Sun basking in the glory

One fun thing about this quilt is that you can easily increase the size of the quilt by making more pairs of blocks. I am planning to start collecting blue fabrics for a project that has a deadline in April. Oh, and the name of this quilt was inspired by the Montessori tradition of celebrating birthdays by 'walking around the sun' and maybe a little bit by the Jimmy Buffet song of the same name. It is a gift for my sister's best friend who is expecting her first baby in March.