CAMP Baby Quilt

 No one's posted here for a while so I thought I'd add this since it's sort of a string quilt. This is probably the sixth baby quilt I've made in this style. Just find a four-letter-word and go. The words are made of Chinese Coin sets; at least that's how I think of them.

Our niece chose an adorable wallpaper/mural for the baby's room that has a row of  stylized deer, fox, bear, and rabbit in approximately these colors. 

CAMP baby quilt

There are quite a few browns in my stash but I had to work to soften them. Now the C looks like weathered wood.

More information on my blog.

Ann

Last Year's Roses

I finished this quilt last year, posted it on my other blog but never added it here. Sorry.

Why would I call it a string quilt? The background is composed of skinny to slightly stubby strings and scraps. After making several with a wider range of values I wanted one that could be a background for appliqué. 

And then I didn't really appliqué much. Funny how adroitly I weasel out of that task.

Chinese Coins with Roses quilt

The leaves and stems are machine appliquéd but the roses were... I don't know... free-hand/crazy/log cabin pieced. When they were large enough I added corners of blue fabric or small sets of Coins to allow me to insert them into single or double columns of the background. Does that make sense?

Rose detail

The finished top aged in my closet for about a year before I finally hauled it out to quilt. At least the roses didn't fade. I have a bad habit of setting tops aside until they are way out of date/out of style. I guess you could say I'm out of my mind. 

Anyway, it's a cute top that used lots of leftovers and strings with only a bit of fabric pulled from my stash for the stems and leaves. That was about a yard. And it was old/vintage fabric. And it's all gone now, too. So not much more work than my usual string quilts. 

Happy New Year to all. 
Ann

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

Arranging Strings Differently

There are other ways to arrange strings. Lately I've been exploring a few of them with Chinese Coins which are basically columns of narrow strings with or without sashing. Over the summer I made this quilt for my niece .

Pflugerville Coins

It started with small amounts of fabric instead of true scrap strings. The fabrics were paired before they were cut into 8-inch WOF and then hand cut into strings/coins. As the pairs ran out, I inserted some real scraps or the beginning of the next pair to segue from one set to the next. However, the quilt could easily be made of scraps.

Coins are easier for me when I sew smaller sets, like sheets of paper, and only sew the column at the end. You can adjust the seam allowance to straighten out wiggles.

The quilting is basic straight lines with the walking foot across the surface.

Quilting detail on Pflugerville Coins

The sky blues are soft and summery to me. More information on my blog. Also, Rachel posted another Chinese Coins quilt here a few years ago. And Wanda has a glorious version where the Coins/strings are vertical. And Brenda posted a scrappier one here.

Ann

Medallion Strings

This is the final quilt I made to clear out my scrap bin: a medallion Chinese Coins/piano keys/strings. Take your choice. It's interesting to see the crossover of names.

CCIV: Medallion

More information here. Now to start filling that bag again.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Improv String or Chinese Coins

We formed a small book study to work through The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Wood. Her second "score" is strings. Here's my first top.

Improv String #1

We discovered we have much more to say and chose to spend another month on this topic. More details on my blog.

Enjoy the day!

Ann