Well, maybe there's an ugly one in the mix

I dug into the string box to make a few blocks

for the ugly challenge, outlined here.

I used whatever I had, but I also looked for

oldies and uglies.

I'm thinking some of these aren't so great up close

My centre black strips are various sizes on purpose

since I didn't ask for a specific size,

I thought I'd use a variety

But once the blocks are set together, I'm liking the effect.

Not matchy matchy at all.

Keep them coming!

Wheee!

That was fun! I had no idea my strings were so skinny, or that it would take so many to fill up an 8.5" foundation square. Here's my block before I trimmed it:

And here it is after:

I can see where this would be yet another great way to keep chain piecing between the seams of other blocks, as long as you had foundations and strings handy. I believe I'm going to have to cut up some more muslin or cheap flannels from my stash to make more foundation blocks! Thanks Brenda!

Magpie Sue

Two cents worth.....

I couldn't resist joining Brenda and the rest in making a "hopefully" UGLY string block. I did my best, and altho the picture colors aren't quite true, I think I did well in picking UGLY fabrics. Thanks for hosting this challenge Brenda!

String-y stars

Yesterday I rough-pieced several string blocks for the center of my string star project.  I decided to do the diamond in the square setting, just to be different and scrappy.

I tried three different settings, here's the first one:

for some reason when I laid it out I thought it looked a bit busy, and I rejected it as an option.  But now that I look at it again, it looks okay.  Nice and bright, the way I intended!

Next, I decided to go with just one color for the points, to match the fabric surrounding the string section:

That's really dull and boring, isn't it?  All you can see is blue! 

After laying it out with those colors, I decided my problem was that the fabric was all solid... so I tried a third layout:

This one uses the same fabric for all the star points...  Hmm... 

I went ahead and pieced this one and trimmed it, but "now that I look at it"...  I believe it's that blue center part that's throwing everything off!  I don't like the third setting as much as I thought I would, so I might go back to the first layout.  That center surrounding the diamond might need a fix, though; also, I'm thinking of making the points a bit smaller.  Back to the drawing board!

Sew forth and sew on

Adding to the Mix . . .

My contribution will go in the mail tomorrow . . . 

I tried ~ 

I really did ~

I suppose some people could call this "ugly" ~

But I think it is wonderfully scrappy.

Can't wait to see all of these together!

Quiltdivajulie

I haven't seen an ugly one yet!

Helen sent me a picture of this block to share with you.

Nothing ugly here!

New stringer in the mix!

Hi everybody, I'm Linda from Eat, Sleep, Quilt! 

I'm glad I was invited to join this blog, it gives me an excuse to make another set of string blocks!  I think strings are really easy to do, especially since I learned the new way of piecing them using phone book pages with just the first seam stitched down. 

For this project I've decided to make a star block, with strings in the middle position. 

Because that middle block will be sort of on the small size, I wanted the strings to be no wider than 1-1/2", else I think the string effect would get lost in the star. 

I trimmed some of my strings down to the size I wanted, I was finding a lot of wide pieces ... I think they're from cutting 2" or 2-1/2" strips that got skewed, so I just tossed them in the string bin.

These are the untrimmed string blocks I pieced this morning, I was up sewing at 6:30!  There are half a dozen here, I only need three more for the design I have in mind.  I wanted to keep this one bright, so it's looking good already!

More later, have a great Tuesday.  Sew forth and sew on...

Prom Queen Goes Hunting?

It's as if this string block has a dilemma: Go to the prom or go hunting?  I pulled out my ugliest of uglies, the mustard camo type fabric, for this special block, as well as a sparkly blue star and a vintage feedsack strip that looks like snow cones exploded on the sidewalk.  

This is going to be a fun quilt!

Carol's string blocks

I used some ugly fabrics, and I do think these blocks are sort of ugly. I hope they turn into swans when put together with others.

 

Carol E.

Ugly?

Here's my string challenge block!  I tried to pick out some really ugly mismatched fabrics for my block, but I honestly don't think it turned out that bad.  There's no doubt in my mind that all these "ugly" blocks will make a beautiful scrappy quilt for charity!