This is Number 5

Yes, I'm officially addicted.  I have finished five free-form quilts a la Rayna and see more in the future.  Now I have a "selvage stash" AND a separate "skinny strips" stash!

Big news:  I have been asked to be guest artist for the month of April at a local gallery.  All of the free-form quilts will be in attendance!  Yay!

Scrappy Christmas Strips top assembled

The blocks are finished and the top is assembled. Sometimes a string quilt is just what is needed to provide some sewing time with limited stress. There are 48 blocks in this top and each one is identical. Our Community Outreach group was given these "off cuts" of Christmas scraps and I wondered if they would work. I used a simple red centre and started sewing. Each block was cut at 10" and I used 1/2" seams to sew the blocks together. Piecefully, Joanne

Another Rayna Workshop

I finally finished a small quilt from Rayna Gillman's workshop last August. What a wonderful teacher she is! All the participants had such different visions and were largely self-directed. Rayna spent the day walking in a circle consulting with each of us in turn. She demonstrated modules, encouraged our ideas and offered alternatives when we ran into a wall.

Mine took so long because I was trying to use everything. Once I pared the modules back it fell into place. Hopefully, like Lori, there will be more in the future. Lots of ideas running through my head.

My quilt from Rayna Gilman's workshop: 24" x 22"

Thanks, Rayna!

Ann

For Margaret's Hope Chest

Someone gave me some scraps and among them were thin strips of novelty fabrics. I started sewing them together and then kept adding more from my own stash. It all grew into this top. I didn't have borders on yet, when I went to visit my sister. She gave me two huge bags of scraps and blocks. Some already-cut borders were included, so I added them to this quilt. The quilt wouldn't exist without the help of several people... and then another person offered to quilt our tops for quilts going to Margaret's Hope Chest! YES! True collaboration wins again! carol e.

Christmas Strings (either early or late?)

Our community outreach group was given outcuts from a Christmas line of fabric. I have wondered if I could make a string quilt with them and finally got going on them last week. I used a red centre string and then have used the same fabric in the same relative position in each block. I put the first four blocks down on the design floor to see how they would look. I am happy with the outcome. Just 44 blocks to go.  Joanne

Log Cabin

Would you call this a string quilt? It's not like the others but it's my "final gasp" before actually throwing a string away. Unlike most string quilts, all the logs finish the same 1/2" width. Any string 1" or larger works. I used to cut the strings to the appropriate width before sewing but now just sew them on and trim back.

Log Cabin of 1/2" finished strings

I started making the blocks when my scrap bag was overflowing. Now, it's a habit. When a quick quilt is needed, these blocks are on hand. And my scrap bag is still full. Go figure.

Ann

Check out these string quilts

Life may be a bit quiet at this blog

but I've seen some great string quilts out there in blogland.

Check out Wanda's string blocks layouts at Exuberant Color

where she is playing with string blocks in soft batiks.

And while you're out there,

see what Marit at Quilt It just finished

from her scrap basket.

How are the rest of you doing with stringing along?

From UFO with Love

This quilt is made from strips of fabrics I had sewn into tubes, cut into 2 1/2 inch sections......to be
 un-sewed, if that's even a word and sewn into some other project.......that was two years ago. I found the tubes the other week when clearing out a UFO box. I know that no one else has ever had that happen!!
I immediately stopped clearing out things and got down to un-sewing, designing, then sewing the rows together. Of course there was not enough to make a good sized quilt so I added the green fabrics and the rest of the tubed strips. When I stood back, I
 thought that the quilt still needed something.
Since this little project was going to my helping hands community project, I decided to add
ABC in artistic letters....someone is really going to love this little lap quilt.

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!