Scrappy!

Hi all!  Anyone else out there still working on string projects?  It's been quiet here this year.

I did finish this string quilt a few months ago:

 Inspired by this little project, Dashed Dreams:

 From this book:

 I enlarged my version quite a bit,

 and rearranged the order of the sections.

Mine is about 50" x 70".

Any plans for strings next year?

***************

An All About Strings Blog Hop is happening this week

This is my entry for the All About Strings Blog Hop happening this week. The hop runs all week and several bloggers will be highlighting their take on string quilts. My blog  www.quiltsbyjoanne.blogspot.com has a tutorial on how to make this particular design and other bloggers links can be found through my blog post. Piecefully, Joanne

2019 Strings

My first string project of 2019!

String quilts are very popular this winter, being shared all over the internet world, 

and I was motivated to participate. 

My inspiration was this photo of a vintage string quilt: 

 … from this book:

It's been added to my to-be-quilted basket, and will become a donation quilt.

I already have an idea for my next string quilt -- it's going to be a productive year!

***************

Red String Blocks

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019 is working on your Red scraps this month. My reds are in good shape, sorted, many blocks made last year. But I did not get my Red string blocks done till this Saturday. I got 14 half red blocks done. 

I am using white string down the middle of each block. 

You can see my map of my quilt. I am not half done yet. I slowly work on each colour each month. I missed a few months, so hope to get back to the string quilt. 

Back to Basics

I haven't posted on this blog in literally years. I'm sure any of us who have been quilting for many years have recognized the ebb and flow of interest in patterns and techniques, even in our own work. So after a hiatus I have returned to some string piecing.

There are so many different ways to work with strips and/or strings! I'd cut width-of-fabric strips from older yardage a few years back in an effort to clear out and update my stash a bit. But then I found I wasn't using a lot of those strips. I tend to work with specific size patches rather than long strips or strata. Or at least that's what I've been doing most recently.

I was inspired to cut my long strips into 8.5" lengths by a post over on Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I do love a Chinese Coins style quilt! And now I have this basket full of strips all the same length but in varying widths:

I'm sewing the strips together randomly, up to about 12-13 inches long so I have rough blocks to work with. When I have the number I figure I'll need for the quilt I'm building I can arrange and rearrange them before sewing them into columns, and then the columns into a flimsy. Here's what I have so far:

I didn't really expect to get this far this quickly! My basket still seems pretty full. I may very well have enough strips for two good size quilts. 😀

Magpie Sue

My First String of 2019

Happy New Year Everyone!!

A friend challenged me to get started in this new year. So I thought to make a string quilt because it's easy.
Here's what I've accomplished so far.

I used a type of tissue paper as a foundation. That's the white area you can see.

 I like all the gray fabrics and was happy to use as many as possible in this project.

I'll need to make 3 more blocks to finish the top then add borders. The blocks are 9.5 inches unfinished.

There's more to see on my blog and the story behind these fabrics.