In the beginning...

I've been wanting to start this blog for a long time, but I keep lurking around, reading other people's blogs, and procrastinating.  I think it's finally time I jumped in, so here goes!

I've been quilting for almost 12 years now and have grown quite a stash of fabric and quilting supplies, so my first goal with this blog is to try and have the folks out there I bogland help me stay accountable for the promises I make myself and try and get some of this fabric used up and UFO's finished once and for all.  I have noticed lots of others doing it and they seem quit successful, so lets give it a whirl!

I'll start with a current trend out there - the "Scrap Around the World" blocks.  Some of them are just stunning like Grace's version here.  However I actually got rid of my scraps in a fit of cleaning (I know, I know, you are all screaming "You Did What!??"), but in my defense my sewing room is overflowing with fabric - it's a long story that I'll tell you about one day, but right now lets get back to the "Trip" quilt.  So, I'm thinking how can I modify this method to get the most out of a jellyroll?

Doing a little math, I decided that I could use 8 strips to get 5 strip sets.  Based on that I would get 2 sixteen inch blocks from each strip set or 10 blocks!  Nine blocks would give me a top measuring 48 inches square with no borders.  Which might work.  So, lets give it a try!

I chose a roll of Aspen Frost and sorted them into 5 strip sets of 8 strips each:

Then I stitched them together into a tube as per instructions on this site here.  Then I cut my tube into sixteen 2 1/2 inch strips with a 2" strip leftover. Like so,

Then per Quiltville's instructions, you unstitching them to get this: