betsy scrappy trip, a finish

trip around the world is a very traditional, popular pattern. and i've never liked it much.

melonie traylor from southern charm quilts made a pink-and-gold version that caught my attention and made me rethink the pattern. but i've never really been interested in making one.

but then alli at woodberry way hosted a scrappy trip quilt along in january 2020. i kept seeing all these scrappy trip quilts and as i was ready to do another church lap quilt, i decided to make a smaller version with liberty tana lawn. i had betsy in several colorways and decided to make it completely from betsy prints.

scrappy trip is a quilting technique that is explained by bonnie hunter in her tutorial on her quiltville blog.

you can read all about the various decisions i made when assembling this quilt in this post here.

it's handquilted in a crosshatch pattern in all the chambray blocks with aurifil thread in 12wt, color 2021.

the backing is a paring of a bold red betsy and a soft grey one. it sort of represents the spectrum of colorways betsy comes in. i didn't really want to use the grey here as i was saving it for a particular project, but it was the best piece i had on hand at the time and i didn't want to wait for more to come in the mail. it came from my visit to the liberty flagship store in london whilston holiday there in 2017.

the binding is a blue herringbone flannel i purchased from the fat quarter shop and used on my other liberty church lap quilts. they have a listing for this maywood studio flannel right now, but i don't think it's quite the same one i got from them originally.

this is one of two betsy and chambray liberty church lap quilts i've made. the second, which i actually finished first, is "betsys all in a row." she came about when i had scraps from this scrappy trip quilt that i wanted to use and there is a free tutorial for her on this blog. they're quite similar, but i think the "betsys all in a row" is actually my favorite of the two.

i love looking at the different betsy colorways in these two quilts and trying to decide which is my favorite. verdict - i can't decide! there are so many good ones.

i take my liberty lap quilts to church even when they're not complete, so both quilts have been in use since 2020. which is probably why i made the mistake i did recently when i posted my new year's eve finish on instagram a few days after the fact. i grabbed the rows quilt to photograph and post rather than the scrappy trip! haha.

i guess i was thinking it's the one that was started second and must have been the one i finished second, even though it was only a few days after the fact. i didn't realize my mistake until a few days later.

parting shot on this quilt: my not-so-little quilt buddy getting ready to hold the quilt up for a quick snap. d5 came along about a year into my quilt journey. just look how big she is now! that means i've been at this hobby for over a decade now. 

both she and the quilts feel like they have been a part of me always.