Monday, March 20, 2017

Anatomy of a modern string

I've been playing with strings again -- experimenting and asking "what if?", as usual.  And also as usual, some of those experiments didn't work very well. This one has been sitting around for yonks and when I finally took a photo, I knew I had to rework it.  Bleh.

So...this morning I took it apart. Separated all the blocks and discovered they were all slightly different sizes and shapes. Uh - was I drunk or just tired when I sewed them together?  Most likely, just in a hurry.  Not a good idea.

I trimmed all the blocks to the same size (5") and tried another arrangement, without sewing them together.


Better, but not much.  The blocks were too big arranged this way.  They needed more space around them but I had no more of them and wasn't about to make additional ones.  Other fish to fry!!

Then - what if I  put space between the small units and played with a sort-of alternate grid?  Here is what is on my wall now.  I still needs more negative space around it, but I think I'll stick a fork in it.  What do you think?


Of course, once I sew the pieces together the whole thing will get smaller and may change a bit - but that's okay.  It can't be worse than the first version!

10 comments:

Nann said...

Interesting blocks . . . The four-block unit in the lower right corner appears too dense to me.

Julierose said...

I really like that 4 block arrangement in the lower r-hand corner--looks like a flower--maybe they would make a cute Spring flower quilt?? Just sayin'...hugs, Julierose

Brenda said...

Thanks for posting this here, Rayna!

Havplenty said...

Making lemonade outta lemons.... sometimes we need to improvise. I like the blocks as is, they look like flowers and I love their colorfulness.

Through my creative lens, I would have a different background color, throw in some colorful accent squares among the flower blocks, trim with an inside solid color border and add a very colorful outer border and sit back and admire my handwork.

The thing is we will all see something different through our creative lens. Find your inspiration and create what works best for you. The blocks are great though.

margaret said...

liking what is happening here scattered about they look good. I have loads of string and have been looking on line to see how to go about making blocks, thought you just joined them into rows horizontally and made a big square then cut them diagionally into 4 seems I am wrong though and the are done on a piece of fabric corner to corner plan to have a go in the next couple of days

2ne said...

Love all your blocks in stripes.

Scrapatches said...

I like the one with the increased negative space in the background. Looking forward to seeing how this comes together. Thanks for sharing ... :) Pat

Rayna said...

Thanks, all. I ended up taking them down and I'm not sure whee they are at the moment, since I am packing up my studio to move.

liz said...

I liked your version with lots of negative space!
Have you moved and started sewing again?

QuiltGranma said...

what ever you do it says to me, ADD Red! or Orange solids! i.e. MAKE A STATEMENT, AND GO QUIRKY! have fun with these!