Trip Around the World quilt block
Concentric diamonds of colour radiating from a single centre square — a one-patch design where the entire effect comes from where you place each square.
Also known as Sunshine and Shadow, Grandmother's Dream.
Trip Around the World and its Amish cousin Sunshine and Shadow are one-patch quilts: every piece is the same square, and the design lives entirely in colour placement. Amish versions from Lancaster County, worked in solid wools with concentric bands of saturated colour, are among the most reproduced quilts in American museum collections.
Trip Around the World cutting chart
Cut sizes include a ¼″ seam allowance: ½″ on squares and rectangles, ⅞″ on half-square triangles, and 1¼″ on quarter-square triangles. Pick a finished block size:
| Fabric | Shape | Cut size | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accent | Square | 1⅛" × 1⅛" | 16 | finishes ⅝" × ⅝" |
| Background | Square | 1⅛" × 1⅛" | 17 | finishes ⅝" × ⅝" |
| Dark | Square | 1⅛" × 1⅛" | 16 | finishes ⅝" × ⅝" |
| Highlight | Square | 1⅛" × 1⅛" | 16 | finishes ⅝" × ⅝" |
| Secondary | Square | 1⅛" × 1⅛" | 16 | finishes ⅝" × ⅝" |
| Fabric | Shape | Cut size | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accent | Square | 1½" × 1½" | 16 | finishes 1" × 1" |
| Background | Square | 1½" × 1½" | 17 | finishes 1" × 1" |
| Dark | Square | 1½" × 1½" | 16 | finishes 1" × 1" |
| Highlight | Square | 1½" × 1½" | 16 | finishes 1" × 1" |
| Secondary | Square | 1½" × 1½" | 16 | finishes 1" × 1" |
| Fabric | Shape | Cut size | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accent | Square | 1⅝" × 1⅝" | 16 | finishes 1⅛" × 1⅛" |
| Background | Square | 1⅝" × 1⅝" | 17 | finishes 1⅛" × 1⅛" |
| Dark | Square | 1⅝" × 1⅝" | 16 | finishes 1⅛" × 1⅛" |
| Highlight | Square | 1⅝" × 1⅝" | 16 | finishes 1⅛" × 1⅛" |
| Secondary | Square | 1⅝" × 1⅝" | 16 | finishes 1⅛" × 1⅛" |
| Fabric | Shape | Cut size | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accent | Square | 1⅞" × 1⅞" | 16 | finishes 1⅜" × 1⅜" |
| Background | Square | 1⅞" × 1⅞" | 17 | finishes 1⅜" × 1⅜" |
| Dark | Square | 1⅞" × 1⅞" | 16 | finishes 1⅜" × 1⅜" |
| Highlight | Square | 1⅞" × 1⅞" | 16 | finishes 1⅜" × 1⅜" |
| Secondary | Square | 1⅞" × 1⅞" | 16 | finishes 1⅜" × 1⅜" |
| Fabric | Shape | Cut size | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accent | Square | 2⅛" × 2⅛" | 16 | finishes 1⅝" × 1⅝" |
| Background | Square | 2⅛" × 2⅛" | 17 | finishes 1⅝" × 1⅝" |
| Dark | Square | 2⅛" × 2⅛" | 16 | finishes 1⅝" × 1⅝" |
| Highlight | Square | 2⅛" × 2⅛" | 16 | finishes 1⅝" × 1⅝" |
| Secondary | Square | 2⅛" × 2⅛" | 16 | finishes 1⅝" × 1⅝" |
How it goes together
Squares laid in concentric rings by distance from the centre. Strip piecing with the tube method builds whole rows at a time and is how most people make it at quilt scale.
Tips
- Work out the colour rings on paper or on screen before cutting. The design is entirely placement, so planning is the whole job.
- The tube method — sewing strip sets into a loop and unpicking one seam per row — produces entire rows at once.
- Value gradation matters more than hue. A ring that jumps in value breaks the concentric illusion.
How much fabric for a Trip Around the World quilt?
Yardage for a whole quilt of Trip Around the World blocks, computed the way the studio does it — every piece packed across a 40″ usable width with 10% added for waste.
| Quilt size | Blocks | Finished | Top fabric | Backing | Binding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby 36×48 | 12 | 36" × 48" | Background ⅝ yd · Dark ⅝ yd · Accent ⅝ yd · Secondary ⅝ yd · Highlight ⅝ yd | 2½ yd | ⅜ yd |
| Throw 60×72 | 30 | 60" × 72" | Background 1½ yd · Dark 1⅜ yd · Accent 1⅜ yd · Secondary 1⅜ yd · Highlight 1⅜ yd | 3⅞ yd | ½ yd |
| Queen 90×108 | 72 | 96" × 108" | Background 3⅜ yd · Dark 3⅛ yd · Accent 3⅛ yd · Secondary 3⅛ yd · Highlight 3⅛ yd | 8¾ yd | ⅞ yd |
What it looks like in a quilt
A single block only tells you half the story. Set sixteen of them together and the secondary pattern appears where the blocks touch:
Trip Around the World questions
What is the difference between Trip Around the World and Sunshine and Shadow?
They are the same construction. Sunshine and Shadow is the Amish name and usually implies solid fabrics in saturated colours with strong value contrast between rings.
Is Trip Around the World hard?
The sewing is easy — every piece is a square. The difficulty is entirely in keeping hundreds of squares in the right order.