My Queen Sized Trip Around the World Quilt

On the first weekend of March, 2020, we moved into our first home that we'd been building for the past year. The following week, our school sent our children home and closed its doors due to concerns about the new Covid 19 virus that was spreading wildly in China and Europe. I remember reading, as I'm sure you do, that if we all stayed home for a month or so, it would die out and things could get back to normal. There was just a few weeks left before the end of term 1, and Easter holidays. We were given work to do and told that school should resume as usual in term 2. 

We know now that this was wishful thinking. And so I found myself in a new home (I was incredibly grateful we'd finished the build just before builders were banned from working and supply chains choked), surrounded by boxes and children, a new yard full of mud, and a news feed full of angst and uncertainty. 

I turned my attention to homeschooling and trying to make our bare bones of a house somewhere nice to live full time. We put up shelves and unpacked our books and quilts, we put up hooks and unpacked pictures, I unpacked all the things required to run our laser cutting business from home and unpacked my fabric and wondered what I should make next. 

And perhaps like many of us, I found that I just could not make anything complex. I couldn't get excited about new patterns or working with different shapes. I couldn't sit down and do fabric maths or fussy cutting. The only quilt I kept coming back to, was the traditional Trip Around the World Quilt. And so, I decided to make one for my bed. 

There's something about English paper piecing squares that is SO relaxing. If you've EPP'd before, you'll know that when you come to a corner of a seam, you need to flatten out your block, and then line up the next seam, often folding paper templates nearby. (If you're new to EPP you can learn more here!) With squares, all of these seams are even, and due to the nature of the 90 degree corners, no papers are ever folded, so the experience of stitching is very smooth and rhythmic. I found it very calming during such an uncertain time. 

After a collection of rounds, I started to learn how different colours, and changes in value affected the overall pattern. I learned that I not only liked rounds of high contrast, but I like it especially when the contrast was spread out between rounds that appeared to merge together. After making a centre that was quite warm and saturated, I decided to be careful with the outside rounds. I wanted them to be softer and complementary, rather than competing with the centre for attention. I found this to be just the right amount of decision making and shaping for the season - too much and I would be overwhelmed, but too little and I might get bored. I would choose 3 or 4 rounds at a time, and then stitch them over the following week or two. 

I also enjoyed that the quilt was very forgiving. Occasionally, I would finish a round and feel like it made the whole quilt feel too warm or clashy, but I learned quickly that the rounds after that could help the clashy round fit right in. I used my collection of low volume prints and solids to be 'volume buffers' when I felt like the quilt was getting a bit too 'noisy' or busy. In my everyday quilting, I feel right at home with noisy and busy, but I don't like it in my bedroom. I wanted it to be warm and soft and inviting. The simple, yet striking pattern was a great base for this, and the colours I chose as I went helped seal the deal. 

I didn't worry too much about fabric requirements. I used a fat quarter bundle of the original Warp and Weft collection by Alexia Abegg, and added matching prints from stash to complete the large rounds in any given colour. I feel like the rounds not being completely uniform adds to the beauty of the quilt. I also didn't make a plan for how many rounds I was going to need. I just sewed until the centre diamond covered as much as I wanted it to on my bed, and then started filling in the corners. 

I ended up finishing the quilt at 25 rounds before filling in the corners. I used 2,601 squares for a finish of 90" square. I backed it with a queen-sized flannelette flat sheet quilting diagonally through every second row, then horizontally and vertically through every second row, This created a lovely 'Economy Block' quilting design across the quilt. 

I now have a pattern for the English paper pieced Trip Around the World quilt in the shop! The Postcard Quilts Collection has 4 complete patterns of quilts made from squares, including Trip Around the World. The pattern includes the instructions for a 61" quilt, plus an easy-reference table for the shapes and fabric required for each round, and tips for going bigger! 

The 3 in 1 bundle below includes the Postcard Quilts PDF, a big Box of Squares with 1400 shapes, and a square acrylic template. To go queen-size like I have, simply reuse shapes that you remove as you go, or grab a second Big Box of Squares on its own. 

The Trip Around the World quilt is a beautiful quilt to make while the world feels heavy and uncertain. Just the right amount of engaging to keep your mind focused, and just the right amount of relaxed stitching so as not to demand too much. Buy the pattern and paper pieces and start your Trip around the World today!