I've been slowly adding to my string blocks this week, loving these small simple 8" blocks.
A string quilt is such a simple sew and is often made from a scrappy dive into your scraps, using a mix of leftovers from bindings, offcut strips, and those trimmings from the edges of larger pieces of fabric.
This time though, I'm mainly using larger fabric pieces from my stash rather than just from my scrappy strips & strings basket. I want it to feel scrappy without using scraps and I had a particular colour combo I was bursting to try.
Here's a few progress photos ...
And for those curious, here's a few details of my colour story ...
I'm going for a mixed palette in peach/caramel/purples/blue, repeating many fabrics.
I'm so used to sewing scrappy, like if I run out of one fabric, I simply substitute with another! Always a risk when one starts out not having a clear picture in mind of the finished size & checking if supplies will stretch 🤣 Hopefully it doesn't take too long for more fabric to arrive.
I decided to use a peach print as my center strip in each block, hopefully it will connect everything up and give the eye a place to rest on my busy blocks.
My strips will be inconsistent widths throughout, to give that organic look.
And I'm aiming for wonky diamond centers in soft mauves.
With this latest batch, I've also added a few 'lighter' blocks into the mix, and it's all looking so good.
Oh, and for a change, I'm using tissue paper squares as my foundation, but - and here's a tip from then came June - I'm only sewing through the paper once. I sew that first seam through the fabric and paper, then fold the paper back out of the way. Finish one half then flip and sew the oppersite side.
Once both sides of the block are sewn, I'm trimming to size using the paper square for guidance, then ripping out the paper. Easy peasy!
Here's how my design wall is looking now ...
This one is growing fast, I've made 22 blocks now
(for the moment, ignore the trial HST blocks on the right!)
… I was thinking I'd make it at least up to a cute cuddle quilt size, but then there was slight hiccough in the production line - I've run out of my peach center strip fabric :(
Happy weekending wherever you are,
Linda
7 comments:
Super beautiful progress, that's a great way to celebrate summer, yes. 8" blocks are a good size.
Great colours and a lovely choice for the centre strips. They are looking wonderful on the design wall.
Your use of tissue paper as a foundation and piecing guide is a method of strip-piecing I'm not familiar with. From Bonnie Hunter's website, I learned how to put telephone book pages to good use to make strip-pieced blocks. Your way sounds very effective, and requires less effort to remove. In any case, I really like string quilts, and yours is great! When my scrap bins fill a little more, I just might make a string quilt myself. It always makes a good donation quilt.
I love the fun designs you can make with string blocks! This one's going to be beautiful. Definitely summer-y colors!
I really like your colorway. The border HSTs will be a good addition.
Good idea about only using the paper in the one area. I really hate tearing the papers off at the end! Love how this is looking. The peach really is an integral part isn't it? Always fun to see how you play with color and fabric. We're all so different. Makes it very inspiring.:)
I hadn’t thought of using tissue paper as a foundation. Your peach print makes an interesting center stripe. It comes and goes a bit when you put strong blue next to it. Clever you!
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