Another Rayna-Influenced Quilt

No string is too small!  A friend gave me these after she trimmed down a jelly roll (!)

I've played with them on and off since October and I'm finally finished.  I hand appliqued the circles just before quilting.  It is #5 since I took Rayna Gillman's workshop in June and the circles were my way of adding my own twist to the project.  The size is 24 1/2" x 30". 

UPDATE

After some email discussion with Rayna, we believe that the better orientation is this:

String piecing on batting scraps

Hi! I'm Christina, I blog at A Few Scraps. Brenda asked me to contribute a new idea I posted on my blog over here:

I have a collection of skinny strips of leftover batting, and I know I am not alone. At about 2 inches wide they are too small individually for any little quilted project.  I know I don't have the patience to piece them together to make a larger piece, though I happily do that with bigger pieces to get enough for a quilt top.

But now I have it. I know what to do. I take little fabric scraps and sew-and-flip piece them onto my batting strips!

And then when I have several strips...

I piece those together with one-inch wide strips of fabric.

(here's what that looks like from the back)

And then I have a quilted panel that I could use for pillows or whatnot. I made a table topper.

I hope some of you like this idea for putting your batting scraps to good use!

Scrappy Coins

54" x 82"

The sashing is a chintz curtain found at a thrift store.   The scraps are cut up shirt, pants and cloth napkins.

It was fun to quilt, with different designs in each piece.

A Work In Progress

I got a String X quilt top put together last week, and now I'm stumped as to what to use for the border.  Nothing I have seems to "go" very well.

please excuse the crummy photo

I've been working on these blocks off and on for a few years, then finally decided that A. I was tired of working with these strings, as I've been using these for years and B. I had enough blocks to make a charity quilt the size that my guild likes.  It does need some border to bring it up to the right size.  I'd like to get this finished before too long.  I'm debating whether or not to do a simple pieced border.  (I still  have some more squares of the background fabric that I could use.)

If anyone has any suggestions for border ideas, I'd really appreciate it!  Thanks!

Magnolia Sewing Circle Makes String Quilt Blocks

At our Magnolia Sewing Circle today I was in charge of this group of ladies making string blocks for a comforter top.

By the end of the day their 38 blocks made quite a show.

String quilts

  How is your week going?I had lots of fun with my strings. I finished and washed the Butterfly String quilt.

I love washed crinkled quilts. The picture below is before I washed it.

Quilt hot out of the dryer.

 

   I quilted my blue, yellow and green string quilt. I am so happy with how the quilting turned out.

 Blue and yellow scrappy backing.

Happy quilting,

Millie

Another version of anything goes

 

I've had these blocks for several years,

planning to make a red stripe string quilt from it.

But they sat in my drawer for a long time

and at one point, when we were working on the group quilt here

I thought I would incorporate them.

But I found the colours too dull,

and all of you were so generous, I didn't need them.

In fact, I didn't use up some of the blocks I made.

Fast forward to the beginning of October

when life was making me crazy

and I needed to sew something.

I took out these blocks again, sewed them together,

and found some fabric in my stash for the borders.

Now it measures 46 by 60 inches,

big enough for a donation to the children's hospital

or to a young friend needing a bit of comfort.

 

Since all these blocks were sewn on foundations,

I'm backing it with fleece, but not putting in batting.

 

 

AUTUMN WINDS --A MEMORY QUILT

Here is my partially string pieced Autumn Winds quilt....the side blocks were my

very first attempt at the "Eye of God" block string work.  I thought it apropos to use for the Change of Seasons.....

(Sorry for the crooked photo--it was windy outside my deck!!)...I used some of my first attempts at hand dying fabric and a whole lot of leafy fabrics which I collected after attending a knitting retreat with a good friend on Killington Mountain; the trees just about shouted with vibrant color that year and they inspired me to make this quilt--the 3rd quilt I ever tried.

Here are a couple more including that wonderful brown grasses fabric. And, that wonderful little blackbird on red (I wish I had more of that one!!)

This quilt took about a year to make; I just was flying by the seat of my pants--

no plan:  make some blocks and see how to fit them together.  I hand-tied it with brown embroidery thread............

Altho' today, I would probably done it differently, I cherish this quilt for the wonderful memories it evokes....hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse

Inspired by Rayna Gillman

This is the fourth free-form strips project I have made following the two day workshop with Rayna last June.  Still having fun, this one is called "Windows and Door".

Note from Brenda: Rayna Gillman is also a contributor on this blog

and she posted recently here.

My first finished string top!

I finished this a few weeks ago.  I love it!! Although after sharing it, I realized I need to add another row to the sides! it's too long for the width!

Toddler Quilt with Strings

I found the last of the red and string blocks - enough to make a toddler quilt. These seem to have more blue strings than the previous one but the setting is the same.

Ann

using up those strips

Help!! I am being overrun by strips of all sizes, lengths, widths, colors -- you get the picture.  I'm known for my strip-pieced work, but it's been years since I have cut pieces of newspaper and started sewing old fashioned string blocks.  

Last week in a fit of insanity, I posted these four on my blog, when Brenda kindly invited me to post them.  They're sitting on the design wall till I finish stitching another piece I've made from a UFO block, but here they are so far - not sewn together, of course. Perfect baby quilt fodder!

When I sew string blocks I don't pay any attention to how wide or what color the strips are.  I mostly pick up blindly and just sew. It's how I learned to do it eons ago from a family friend -- and it always ends up looking great.  Some day I'm going to limit the color families I use and see what happens. Might be interesting...

"SEA GLASS" STRIPS

For this scrap strippy quilt (a la Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Cam project) I chose 
mostly lighter colors that remind me of the sand and sea and sky.  I have  a semi-controlled group that I pulled from my tangled basket(s!) of scraps.  I have 31 blocks finished and seem to have MORE scraps now than when I started...somehow ????(LOL).  

This afternoon I finally got back to sewing up 11 more strips on 2.5 x 8.5 inch old telephone pages I have precut.  

In the meantime, tho', in between times......

Do you find that in the midst of a big project you just HAVE to make a few other things:  LIKE....I was awake at 3 am and so....voila

 A little wall hanging for my granddaughter, Fiona and her new baby sister Willa Rose....
(this one an idea from Rial at The Q and U Blog)..I added.those "bone buttons"-hair  and they are from my Grand'mere's button box--I like using up things with a special meaning for me.  And so, they will go down to another generation...nice.

Tonight I will be tearing papers off the strips I made today while watching the Red Sox...if they don't win, I'll still have those strips ready to go tomorrow (ROTFLOL)...

Hugs, and thanks for inviting me to post about my string-ey doings....hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse

Stringy and scrappy finish

Transitions

50 by 60 inches

machine pieced and quilted

 

I think I've posted about this quilt made from strings and little scraps before,

but I finished it this week.

Check out my blog post here to read more.

 

How are the rest of you doing stringing along?

Fractured Diamond in Pink

My granddaughter, who is 4, suggested that I really needed to make a quilt using the pink floral in the above photo. She was adamant that I use as much pink as possible. Since I'm not a pink type of girl, I did manage to find one other scrap of what reads as a solid pink to use as a frame around the gray diamonds. She was pleased with the look so I'm off the hook......LOL

I made this one a couple of years ago using scraps from my black/white stash. I really love the way the red seems to pop out at you. and the small piano key border pulls everything together.

This was the first Fractured Diamond that I made about 4 years ago. I used earth-tones. It amazes me how different each one looks & yet they are the same.

Strings - sort of

The last post of mine was my Pineapple quilt and I have finished a few more blocks, would like to have a few more completed before posting another photo.

I am also working on a quilt for my daughter, not strictly string quilting, but made with 2 1/2" strips, I need to really finish this within a week and start on two string quilts which I have been wanting to make for some time.

Not a brilliant shot but I have a small room for my quilting and just can't get far enough away from the display wall! I have another 28 quarter blocks to make (52 on the wall) then sashing and borders, these blocks already on the wall need trimming and re-arranging so not necessarily the final arrangement.

I have been looking at the String Along block of the month from Material Obsession close off is tomorrow and I need to decide whether to go for it or not, I normally like bright colours but as the info says this quilt has an earthy look to it so I am undecided. A few more hours left to make a decision!!!

We're setting a trend!

I know all of you don't have to be convinced of the value of string quilts.

You already love them, admire them, make them

as we've been stringing along here together.

 

Seems like the folks in Australia are finally realizing the good thing we have here.

Check out the string along at the Material Obsession website.

Be inspired by their project, but most of all, keep stringing along!

Making a Guild Quilt!

The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild got together last weekend to make a guild quilt!  We were inspired by Densye Schmidt's Anyway you slice it design.  Here is my post.

the finished top

and the back

About as Stringy as it Gets

In June, I was very fortunate to take a two-day workshop led by Rayna Gillman.  If you are not familiar with her work, the cover of her book about says it all:

Now I can't throw away a single string EVER, no matter how narrow it is!

Here is my first project.  Quilted and faced, about 18" square.  I had shown it in an earlier post here.

Here is #2, started on the 4th of July.  I emailed Rayna and warned her that it looked like a box of crayons exploded!  Since the picture, it has been quilted but not faced.

Here is #3, made this past week.  It's just a top so far.

Can you tell I'm having a lot of fun?  If you would like to see the design wall ACTION as these projects developed, just check out my blog http://talkischeapquilts.blogspot.com/

Purple strings fit for a little girl

I finally finished this little quilt this week. I have had tendonitis in my shoulder so a friend quilted the quilt and I added the binding. The strings feature dancing cows and pigs and were scraps another friend gave me. I do love the rectangular block for making strings with the resulting diamond shape.  This will be a donation quilt for my local Scrap Bag group. Joanne

Two Flimsies - Ready for Quilting

Indoor flash photo

Here and There measures 53" wide x 72" long.

Outdoor late-day sunshine photo

Moving Right Along measures 46" wide x 60" long.

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Nancy of Blogging Near Philadelphia won the leftover strings giveaway.

* * *

 And I've already started a new box of strings . . . 

Quiltdivajulie