Stringing in the New Year

I finally got some time to myself & decided to sew.

I'm sure you remember this beginning from the other day.

I decided to use gray on the one side & included a strip of black to accent those colors.

On the other side I'm using a pale green, another black strip & a large black floral.

Here's what the blocks look when turned with the florals in the center.

Here's what it looks like wth the black in the center.

Stay tuned for more later.

What are you doing this week? I'd love to hear from you.

Stringing With Some Friends

Gene & a couple of other blogging friends prodding me into the string fever so I got into the sewing room, pulled out some tissue like paper for foundation, decided on a center & got that glued in place. Like Gene, I'm a bit OCD, which means for me, I can't just go with totally pulling random strips from a bag. I had to at least have a center in one fabric all the way through.

Another Fractured Diamond Design

I purchased this fabric the other month and saw many possibilities.

So of course, I started cutting into it with another fractured diamond in mind.

I drafted a kite shape from cardboard and cut 24 out to begin with because I didn't know how large I wanted the quilt to be.

I already like the looks of this.

Here's one block.  Each block is 8 1/2" unfinished. My plan is to use up as many scrap strips as possible without them growing into a mountain......sigh!!

And now 8 blocks. Now I just have to get busy and build a quilt. Stay turned. For some reason, things (quilting) have slowed down around here as hay season gets into a full swing. It just might take awhile before this string gets done.
Happy May everyone!!!

Newbie & a Finish

Look at this little cutie. Mr. Cowboy has forbidden me to name her ( some of you may remember Buzzard Bait, who still lives somewhere safe & sound).

Secretly, I think I'm naming her anyway....wink!!

I finished the string quilt. This is not a good photo. I'll get a better one when I add a border.

The Right Fabric for The Right Job

I found this wonderful fabric on the sales bin & snapped it up. As soon as I saw it I thought, it's time for another "strip" quilt.

I carefully cut the parts I wanted to use for this project & stored the rest. I cut 36 muslin squares at 12 1/2" & went to work.

This is how far I've gotten thus far.

Close up 1

Close up 2

I hope to have the top finished by early next week!!

Monday, Monday

"Some little (princess) person" was visiting and helped me design this helping hands quilt top.......She was adamant about the placement so I had no choice but to stick to it.......LOL....I'm sure whoever receives this quilt will love it!!!!!

This quilt top measures 36" by 42" and it's made from strips of scraps and is headed to helping hands, as well. These types of small quilts are great for nursing home patients because they easily fit in a wheelchair or lounge chair.

Make sure you pop over to Judy's to see what others are up to on this Design Wall Monday.

DWM-Sunday

I knuckled under and finished piecing the "Green Lover" quilt. A thin 1 1/2 inch red stop border followed by a 6 1/2 inch piano key border did the trick.

Final measurements.....56" by 76" which makes for a wonderful lap sized cozy quilt.

I love the look of this quilt. One day I'll quilt it.

Next up......

Ugly fabric and an idea......

 I've had this fabric for years, got it from a girlfriend. I think she said that her grandma had given it to her. As you can see the pinkish coral background and large floral pattern. This is a difficult fabric to work with but you know me.....I looked at it for years until inspiration struck.

Never once did I think to use it as a backing. I was determined not to.

After pulling several dull green fabric strips (green is my favorite color BTW), I decided to frame those strips with a black strip to add interest.

 

This design is one that I've developed over the years and have shared in the past. It's called Fractured Diamond.

I love the way this particular design works out. You can get a double design or more depending on your particular layout.

After I stood back to take a look, I knew that I wanted to diamond to extend into the border which meant I'd have to do "half" block diamonds with solid corners.

I don't even notice that ugly fabric. All I see is that beautiful green popping out!

Believe it or not, this quilt took only the weekend to sew and that includes interruptions visits from family dinners, Sunday School and Memorial Church service.

The final measurement is 45 inches square.

Love it!!!

Can you see the 4 pointy pinkish stars? The one green 4 point green star diamond? The circular type motion of the outer diamonds??

There are probably more shapes if you squint when viewing the photo.

What are your thoughts??

 

 

 

One More

Okay, I made one more barn. I just couldn't leave well enough along. I do not have a pattern for this one.......sorry. It was a little rush job before company came.

Here's a side by side view of a couple of string quilts. The green one I just finished this morning. I need to sew borders on both quilts but, alas, time is not on my side at the moment. Both quilts measure roughly 40 by 60 so far.

 

All projects were made with scraps from my ever growing stash. Yep, you heard me...the stash is growing. At this rate, it will totally take over the house within the month.

Determined

Determined......yes, that describes me these days.  Determined to get rid of use as many of my scraps as possible.  That's why I started this scrappy string hoping to use most of my yellow scraps......I'm making a pretty good dent but, we'll see.

On a different note......just wanted to share Ayden when her daddy and Ayden eating breakfast at GoGo's. Note the ketchup on her scrambled eggs.....OMG, I thought I'd be sick when she asked me to keep pouring it on. Kids!

Finally, here's a sneak peek of what's in store for Tuesday's BOW!!

Diamond String Body

I've pieced another string together, again using the elongated block (7 1/2 by 10 1/2). The two focal points being dark and light diamonds. Once I'd sewn all the blocks together, I thought maybe I should have done something near the center light diamonds....oh well. That will have to wait for the next string. I'll add a border or two in the near future. So far the measurements are 42 1/2 by 62 1/2-ish.

Diamond String With Two Focus Points

This is the second string quilt in a month. The design was in my head so I had to stitch it out. You know how that is, right?

I'm using muslin. The blocks measure 7 1/2 by 10 1/2. I starched the daylights out of the muslin so that I shouldn't lose much from shrinking or something else that could go wrong....LOL

Just making sure that I'm on the right track. I really don't want to rip anything out.

Here are four test blocks. I'm loving what I see, so onward!

Sorry about this photo, it's really fuzzy, don't know how that happened. It couldn't be something that I did, could it....ahummmmm!!

I'm going to make 12 more blocks before I sew all together. I really love the light and dark diamonds.

Leafing Through The Year - BOM - Block #9 & Give-away

Block #9
Link here just in case I forgot to post it on my Sidebar!
Don't forget to scan down and read about the give-away in the previous post.
Finally, here's my latest finish.
It's an elongated string quilt. I started with a foundation muslin of 9 by 12 inches, which, after sewing everything in place, trimmed down to 8 /12 by 11 1/2 inches.