Tuesday, February 28, 2017

I've been stringing along with 10 quilting friends.
I put out a call for help with a string quilt 
in greens and blues and neutrals.
A week ago we gathered to put it together,
sewing blocks from a pile of strings.
The blocks finish at 5.5 inches.
It has a basket weave layout of 11 by 15 blocks
with an interior border of dark blue blocks.


Here's a test layout.
I've moved around some blocks so there are no dark bits
touching the border.

Here's a view of it sewn together.
A week later it is basted and ready to quilt.
Stay posted!

Friday, February 17, 2017

Using those Orphan String squares

I decided to use those Orphan String squares as centres for Wonky star blocks.
I trimmed the blocks down to 4.5" square and used them for the centres of the QAYG stars.
They made a finished block of 12.5" as requested by Adrienne  (On the windy side blog) for her Block Drive so she can make some quilts to give to children affected by the November Kaikoura earthquake.

 
My favourite block is :
 

I made similar QAYG blocks for Alison's Soy Amado Project back in 2014 and was very pleased to see how good they looked in Alison's  finished quilt.

Google Soy Amado No 38 on Little Island Quilting: Sunday 15 June 2014.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Making single colour string blocks

I am trying to use up the small stash of fabric I have here in NZ so I have been making some String blocks in a single colour. They are small, only 5" square as I had lots of scrap paper that I could cut this size from for my foundation papers.

Here they are:


I also made these blocks:

 
But, when I trimmed them I discovered I had made a mistake, somehow I had cut a few of the foundation papers around 4.75"!
 
As I didn't have many long strings I started to piece strings and the yellow block really doesn't work as the central string is pieced and doesn't stand out enough in the block.
So, these will be used in a different way.
I have two ideas:
They can either join other Orphan Blocks or I can use them to make a large Wonky Star block like these I made back in March 2014:
 


 
I made these for The Soy Amada quilts project, using Crumb blocks for the centres of the stars. I could do the same, using the five Mistake blocks. I have plenty of calico here in NZ so I could make these QAYG blocks easily.

A week or so ago I saw an NZ blog post about a QAYG blocks drive to make donation 12.5"square blocks for Kiwi kids.  As I am in NZ I thought this would be a good way to use these poor Mistake blocks. However.......... I can't remember which blog it was!!!  If anyone reading this blog post can let me know the blog name please email me or leave a comment on this post!  Thank you.  Otherwise I'll donate them to the Soy Amado Project.

Happy String piecing!