here we go again

The Japanese x & + block can no longer be denied. I've been dreaming of making one of these quilts for a whole year and the sheer joy of the Scrappytripalong has gotten me to fall more deeply in love with scrap quilts than ever. This first block just sort of made itself yesterday afternoon. And let me tell you, they are just as addictive as the scrappy trip blocks.

Nevermind that my current design wall occupant is still in need of 23 more blocks (and I think I swore I'd finish it by the end of the month?)

Or that my Scrappy Trips top is hanging out just begging to be basted, quilted and bound.

The first four blocks have been made and a gigantic pile of scraps have been pulled. And so it looks like our new informal interweb quiltaverse sewalong has been born! You can find us under hash tag #xplusalong on Instagram and there is a new Flickr group too. Please come over and play, whether you are just starting out or want to finish the blocks you started when it became a sensation last year.

You can also find Amy Badskirt's fabulous tutorial for the block here and the original beauty by Setsuko Inagawa that started it all here.

and what a trip it's been!

I can hardly believe how this pattern his taken the online quilting community by storm! It's been wonderfully amazing to see all the gorgeous Scrappytripalongs pop up all over Instagram, Flickr and the blogaverse. They have all been so different and unique, and I love how this quilt really expresses the individual personality of each quilter - so much so that I could easily pick the creators of many of them out before even knowing who made it.

And this is my finished top. I think it is totally 'me'. I am pretty much smitten with the chaos here and I think it is going to be a great companion to my Scrap Hoover quilt. This one started out as a scrap bin buster, but soon I ran out of scraps big enough for the pattern. After that, I raided stash. I love how this is a blend of scraps I may not have otherwise used and many of my most treasured prints.

I'm just awaiting an order for some backing from Pink Castle Fabrics (Brenda, if you didn't know, was one of the other original firestarters of this whole craze!) and then I will be quilting this one myself. I'm thinking big swirls, but we'll see. 

I want to thank each and every one of you who has jumped on this Scrappytripalong! As fast as this quilt is to make, given my track record for speed this would've taken me weeks to complete if it hadn't been for all of you inspiring and encouraging me along.

So what do we make next?