the magic of fabric

In a mad effort, I finally got back to sewing something this week. I've been trying to focus on finishing off older quilting projects when I go into my sewing room during these winter days… and so I picked up my string 'spiderweb' blocks, which I started, hm-m-m- well over 2 years go.

 

I'm using a pattern by Kathy from Material Obsession, her 'popstars' quilt, which is a lively colourful quilt in her book Material Obsession Two. And there is also a great tutorial here by Marit from quilt-it. 

My blocks are foundation pieced onto a thin calico, and it's a great way to use up small strips of fabrics. The extra stabling fabric keeps the bias from stretching, and while it's feeling a little heavy, I'm sure if I use a low loft batting, it'll be fine 🤞.

I actually had started out using a very different teal blue itty bitty print for the background 'star' sections and a greater selection of brighter strips too, but when I relooked at it I wasn't happy . . . so it was back to the drawing board.

There is one great Kaffe book on my bookshelf that I enjoy a lot, 'Passionate Patchwork' which was published in 2001. It features lots of vintage quilts, they really are quite spectacular. The next pic caught my eye, the gentle blues of the vintage plates, pillows & a quilt, pastels punctuated with a little warm red and a few darker shades.

I put my earlier blocks to one side and started again, using these pages as my inspiration. I also recalled seeing somewhere out in blogland a spiderweb quilt {sorry for no link but I can't remember where I found it}, where the background was a light spotty fabric rather than the all-out brights in Kathy's pattern, so I tried substituting a white & blue Kaffe spot for my background too. 

It looked great, and suddenly, I was back digging deep into my scrap basket looking for more pastels, excited to move forward with this. Here's a few progress photos . . .

I'm using Jodi's 'project planner' to get me back on track, you can find it here @ Tales of Cloth

- it's a nice feeling to tick a few things off

 I'm also making my blocks a little bit special by adding some pretty selvages too . . .

String quilts are a great stash buster, don't you think? I love that the rings have turned out just a little bit wonky, if you look closely you can see that they don't line up all the way round {Mr D hates the fact that they don't all line up!}. 

I love those great big pastel spiderwebs, and the soft blue dotty star too! 

But... the best thing is that it's a real snapshot of fabrics I have used in many different quilts over many years, resulting in a magic mix of fabrics happening right now. 

I made up nine 20" blocks using mostly 1 1/2" strips, not wanting to go too big with this as it's been sitting around for too long & I want to get it finished now. I notice there is some bulkiness at a couple of the majors joins, but I'm hoping they will ease out with the quilting. And so here's my finished 'spiderweb in pastel' quilt top . . .

For a glimpse at a few other quilters also doing things with strips just now, check out Chris' link here @  #afullenglish  and check out here at #em'sscrapbag where Emily is currently doing a series of strip busting block videos on her YouTube channel. Also pop over to  #bebquilttreasures where Beth uses new and recycled fabrics in her quilts. Julie from quiltdivajulie here on ig is mid flight making a bright version too, using different bright spots for her backgrounds, and it's looking great! 

Linking up this week with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here.

Until next time Linda