This month, I sewed the binding to my Trip Around the World quilt. It’s the biggest quilt I’ve ever made, finishing at 231cm x 256cm (91in x 101in). Let me tell you the story of how it came to be.
![](https://ericaspinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Erica-Spinks-TAW.jpg)
Six years ago, I started cutting squares from fabrics in my stash. I wanted to sew a colourful, simple-to-construct quilt for my bed. A quilt that would be easy to stitch by machine. At that time, I had a huge design wall at one end of my sewing room so I took advantage of that and started playing with the squares, arranging them in diagonal rows in colour combinations I liked. Each block is nine squares at its widest.
I decided to separate the blocks with rows of black squares so a-shopping I went, looking for various black and white prints that read as predominately black. That was a fun expedition.
Soon my design wall was full, so I started sewing rows together. Joining squares has to be one of my most pleasant stitching experiences. I love it when all those corners come together. I’ve made several small quilts with different layouts of squares since and have many ideas for others.
![](https://ericaspinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Erica-Spinks-TAW1.jpg)
Soon the quilt top became too large for the wall and I moved it and more squares to the floor, tip-toeing around it (and sometimes over it!) every time I entered the room. Still I kept adding squares until I decided there were enough. I folded up the quilt top and put it on a table.
Eventually, I booked it into be quilted by a professional longarm quilter who was a member of my quilt group. She did a beautiful job on it and I took it home, determined to bind it so I could use it on my bed. That was about four years ago.
Life got in the way for a few years but I took the quilt out of the cupboard recently and finished it – finally. It’s airing now and will be on my bed later this week, six years since I started it.
I never want to make a quilt that big again!