Last January I had a post about cleaning and organizing my cutting room. I showed you a picture of a box of 1-1/2" strings or strips or whatever you want to call them. I said that a challenge to myself in 2019 was to empty this box. And I wondered how many quilts were in the box?
I've sewn the last flimsy, which measures 63" by 81". This makes flimsy #8 which is also destined for the comforter bash. Most of the quilts I sewed were log cabin blocks. I was tired of log cabin so for this project, I changed it up slightly and made courthouse steps!
These are regular courthouse step blocks. I started piecing these blocks before Bonnie Hunter made her crooked courthouse blocks.
The strings were picked over and there wasn't much variety. I refused to cut more 1-1/2" strips so I used 2" strips from the 2" strip box to finish them. I always trim to size after they're sewn anyway so I had plenty to trim off this time.
Originally, last January, I sorted the strings into 3 groups, autumn, brights and then the leftovers.
Flimsy #1 - I chose to make log cabin blocks with the autumn and bright fabrics. He measures 92" by 106".
This setting was popular in my area back in the late 90's.
I used all sorts of fabrics for the lighter logs. If it had a cream background, it went in this quilt, even it it had red roses! Some of the logs were more beige than cream but I used them anyway.
I did have to pull some fat quarters and yardage to cut more yellows/oranges. Apparently I don't use those colors a lot because there weren't many strips of those colors in the box.
For flimsy #2 - I chose a barn raising setting with a star in the center. Measures 90" x 106".
Flimsy # 3 is similar to the first quilt but has a star center and measures 90" x 106".
I don't have to quilt the 3 autumn flimsies, they'll be donated the my Pennsylvania grands school auction. Someone there will hand quilt them.
Most of the autumn colored fabrics were gone, certainly not enough left to make another quilt. Now onto the bright strings!
I made two large twin sized quilts with brights that have been long arm quilted
The first one has a regular barn raising setting with a star center, this is flimsy #4 and measures 70" by 98".
Tammy from the 3 Sisters Quilting quilted both of the quilts. She called this design rain drops.
I saw a star log cabin quilt on someones blog somewhere and thought I can do that. And so I did for flimsy #5 and it measures 67" by 94".
The quilting design I selected for this quilt was what I called orange peel but Tammy called pumpkin seed.
It's hard to see on the front side but shows up better on the backing.
Flimsy #6 has traditional strings on telephone book paper to make this 60" by 86" comforter top for the MCC Comforter Bash.
I'm not an overly patient person and I found removing the telephone paper from the back of the blocks extremely tedious! Not going to do that again!
For flimsy #7, I went back to piecing log cabin blocks and made this comforter top which measures 61" by 83" which also goes to the comforter bash.
I did cut yellows just to give this flimsy some color.
I have been pulling small pieces of yardage and fat quarters to cut for the light strings. I ran out of lights from the box while piecing the first 3 quilts!
So to answer the questions of how many quilts were in the box of 1-1/2" strings, there were 3 queen sized and 5 twin sized quilts. How many quilts are in your boxes of strings?
There were a few strings left, most of them shorter pieces. To use them, I am making 9 patches. I do have a 9 patch project in progress but the progress is extremely slow.
This was a fun challenge but I don't think I'll try to empty a whole box next year. The 2" and 2-1/2" boxes are overflowing too. Next year I'll see what I can make from them. There is no sense in having string boxes if I don't sew with strings.
Linking to String Along, Month 10, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished Or Not Friday, Oh Scrap
After finishing 3 queen sized log cabin quilt flimsies in autumn colors, I've moved onto the bright colors from the box.
I saw a log cabin quilt online somewhere made with all star blocks. I loved how it looked so I decided to piece a log cabin with that setting. This is a large twin sized flimsy measuring 70" by 98".
I had the individual blocks pieced, then sewed the star blocks together at the guild retreat in February.
After the stars sections were sewn together, I decided to have sashing in between the sections. I hadn't brought any fabric along to do that with.
Several of us made a point of visiting The Scarlet Thread. I purchased some 'word' fabric and some aqua fabric too.
I cut the necessary strips for the sashing then remembered I had wanted to get a small piece of yellow for cornerstones. I thought yellow would be good since the center of the log blocks were yellow. Oh well, I cut the aqua fabric and used it. It looks just fine.
For the corners of the piano key border, I made half log cabin blocks.
This quilt is set in the traditional barn raising but has a star in the center. The flimsy measures 72" x 100". I added the narrow outside border so when I bind the quilt, I won't cover up the logs. Part of that narrow border will be trimmed before binding.
A close up of the center star.
I'll have these two flimsies long arm quilted.
The strings in the box are decreasing but the box still isn't empty. Now I'm going to divide the fabrics into lights and darks and see what I get.
Linking to Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle & Thread Thursday, the Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, From Bolt to Beauty, Finished Or Not Friday, String Along, Show Off Saturday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Many quilters are making string quilts this year. I'm sewing my strings into log cabin quilts. I've got #3 into the flimsy stage, another autumn log cabin.
I'm having fun making the stars in these flimsies.
I won't be quilting these 3 flimsies. I'm donating them to a fundraiser.
I posted about the first two flimsies in this post. Scroll down to see the log cabins. The 3rd flimsy is the same as the 2nd one except this one has a star in the center.
Linking to Oh Scrap, String Along, Moving It Forward , Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday
The string quilts I pieced in December and January have been quilted.
The queen sized one was quilted by Joy from Calico Point.
You'll need to be satisfied with pictures taken while the quilt is displayed on our bed. It is frigid outside with record wind chill factors. It's bad enough to go outside for barn chores, I'm not going outside to take quilt pictures!
This picture is of the bottom of the quilt. The center ended up square. To turn it into a rectangle I added a row of white sashing and then a row of straight strings to the top and bottom of the quilt. She measures 90" by 104".
For the quilting, I selected this happy flower design.
A picture of the center.
If whoever ends up with this quilt gets tired of looking at the front, they can turn it over and have the bright, cheery whole cloth side up.
I quilted the crib quilt myself on my home sewing machine. Quilting on my machine is not my favorite thing to do so I just do it and get it done.
My Babylock Melody has a curvy line design, I push a couple of buttons, change the stitch length and I'm ready to quilt.
A view from the front.
And here's the back which does show the quilting better.
This crib quilt was quilted several weeks before the other quilt came back. The temperatures were cold but not the frigid weather we're experiencing now.
A couple of pictures in the snow by the old tree stump.
This crib quilt measures 42" by 49".
I did wash this quilt. I was concerned about bleeding and wanted to take care of that before it was donated. I was very happy to see there was no bleeding.
In January I had show you a box full of strings or strips that I was going to empty in 2019.
So far I've pieced two queen sized log cabin quilts and the third one is waiting to be sewn together. These three quilts are in autumn colors.
This picture take inside because it's too cold outside.
There are very few of those colors left in the box but the box is still full! I must have had them really packed in there.
This picture taken last week before it was so cold.
This design was popular back in the late 90's in my area. It's especially nice for hand quilting. These two flimsies and the one not sewn together yet will be donated to the school auction my Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Someone else will quilt them.
Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Stringalong, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap
For the past year I've been reorganizing my cutting/fabric room. I've evaluated bagged projects to see if I want to still make them, then repurposed the fabric and patterns from the projects that didn't make the cut.
The best organizing tool I've incorporated is this pegboard for the small items and rulers.
It is so nice to find the small items quickly and the rulers are right there at hand.
The rulers used to be kept on a rack but that just didn't work for me.
I moved the cutting table into the center of the room under the overhead light. Now I can walk all the way around the table.
The room looks cluttered now but this picture was taken while working on Scrappy 9 Patch. That is what the boxes on the table are for. As soon as that quilt was finished, I put the boxes away. Cleaning up after each project is a good way to eliminate clutter too.
A couple years ago I bought metal shelving which has helped with the organization. The fabrics are sorted by color and kept in tubs on these shelves.
The large tubs, center bottom, contain fabrics kitted for a projects with the pattern enclosed.
Those bolts of fabric in the bags look sloppy. I'll take care of those.
This looks better with the bags off the bolts of fabric.
The second shelf still looks messy. The boxes contain varying widths of strings. I don't use strings a lot and they're starting to take over.
This is the box of 1-1/2" strips that you see on the right side in the above photo.
It originally held paper for the printer so you can visualize how large it is.
I wonder how many quilts are in this box and basket?
I've issued a challenge to myself, I'm going to see how many quilts I can piece from these strings in 2019. I did use some of them in the string quilt but that didn't even make a dent!
I will be making several log cabin flimsies. I like the log cabin block, the blocks can be arrange in so many different designs.
I've made a start on two log cabins so far. This one is brights.
And this stack consists of fall colors. Actually I'm making enough blocks to make two tops in fall colors, both different.
There will also be one in blues, purples and whatever is left in the box.
I did empty the basket of the whites and creams so I've pulled out background fabrics left from other projects.
Digging through the box has caused an explosion of strings in my sewing room and they're taking over everywhere!
The log cabin blocks are going to be an ongoing project for 2019. I will work on them in between other projects. These blocks sew fast and don't require a lot of thinking!
Linking to Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap!
