Her theme was inspired by nature and I decided to make some improv sunny blocks. I used scraps that Natalie sent, along with a few additional pieces from the stash, and made these four blocks, which I sewed into a long strip.
I really love them, and I hope Natalie does, too.
I attached my strip to Nicke's diamond blocks, and sent Natalie's quilt on to the next person.
It's been awhile since I've made string blocks. I don't know about you, but I always seem to have a pile of string scraps lying around.
Last week, I divided them into two piles based on length, and made a bunch of blocks.
Here's a few tips that might help, if you've never made a string block before.
-Working with a foundation is best for string blocks, and I prefer paper. As Jeni pointed out, using a fabric foundation (even muslin) adds bulk, whereas the paper can be ripped away when you're finished.
-If you have graph paper or an old telephone book, this works better than printer paper, but that will work, too!
-Start with your center strip, and glue-baste this piece to make sure it stays in place!
-To create a cohesive look, you can use a single color and width for your center strings. Or, you can mix it up to your heart's content!
-The most important thing is to make sure you keep a 1/4" seam allowance throughout.
-Make sure your strips are at least 1" wide.
-With all paper piecing, it's best to leave the paper on until you've sewn your blocks together. It helps to minimize bias.
-Setting your stitch length to 1.5 or 1.6 will make ripping that paper a little easier, too.
-When pressing any paper-piecing, use a dry iron (no steam!).
-Oh, and little triangle scraps are great for the end pieces!
Any other tips? Did I leave anything out?
Specifically for do.Good Stitches bee blocks this month, I'm asking for 8.5" blocks (so you can just cut a 2.5" strip off a sheet of paper to create that template!). For the center strings, I'd like 1" strips of any blue solid, and then the rest of the strings can be any width and any color. I'd love to see a mix of solids and prints.
As you can see, these are addictive to sew! And my pile of strips doesn't seem any smaller.
February do.Good Stitches blocks for Natalie. It was lots of fun sorting through scrap mountain to make these.
Two boxy pouches, from Bonnie's tutorial. The front pouch is entirely from scraps and the back pouch was made form a favorite and long OOP Echino cheater print.
Slowly working my way through a social tote. Pattern is by Carolyn Friedlander w/ Noodlehead. I'm enjoying the process!
I pulled this stack of fabrics to use for 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, and I'm sewing along with Jeni and Amanda (and possibly a few other friends!).
First three blocks!
Bella is still constantly looking out for the third kitty. It's been a little over six weeks since Fitzgerald moved in. Things are getting easier and calmer, slowly.
Have a great week!
In the meantime, two things for today.
One: the winner of the Snap Tote pattern is CourtneySews. I have emailed her a copy of the pattern. Thanks again to Yahaira!
Two: I wanted to share the most recent Do.Good Stitches blocks, made for Ara Jane.
Ara Jane asked for "high-volume 3/4 log cabins, and I just LOVE them. I want to make more!
I will be back next week with wedding projects, and I finally finished my Polaroid quilt (it just needs photographing!).
These are for do.Good Stitches, Love circle. After I took this picture, I received the last four blocks. I hope to at least start working on this top before the weekend!
I also REALLY hope I get time to cut into this lovely stack soon. This is Nordika. by my good friend, Jeni Baker! It's her second line for Art Gallery Fabrics, and it will be available next month! She very kindly sent some for me to play with, and the colors are so good. There's no doubt I'll be purchasing a larger cut of one of those plaid prints for a dress or shirt. Way to go, Jeni! It is awesome.
See you tomorrow with a quilty finish!
First, I never shared my blocks for the Quilts for Boston drive. I know the Boston MQG received an amazing response in this effort, which is heartwarming!
I also intend to send at least one baby quilt (and hopefully more!) to the Moore Love effort. I am hoping I can get a second small quilt done before the deadline!
Oh, and check out these fun Goose Creek blocks!
Deborah shared a tutorial for these, and asked us to make them for her month of do.Good Stitches. I really loved making them.
I especially love how this corner turned out.
Finally (and I do mean, finally!), I recently finished this vintage wrapped wreath. Jeni shared a tutorial for this, and I purchased a sheet strip pack from her AGES ago (like, two years, I think). I don't know why it took me so long. It's so easy and fun! I ended up sewing all of the strips together, like binding, instead of wrapping each one separately. And now I have a happy wreath!
It's my month for do.Good Stitches again, and we are making star blocks!
I currently have three quilt tops waiting for basting (this one, that one and another that is only on instagram currently). I'm also finishing a fourth quilt top, this time a postage stamp project. It's scrappy and fun!
Soon, I will share the dress I recently finished. I wore it to my future brother-in-law's graduation this weekend!
I've been very introverted for the past few days, but I think that's okay.
Hope you're having a great week!
P.S. If you haven't already heard, the Boston Modern Quilt Guild is calling for quilt blocks. This is going on my short list of things to do!
I really enjoyed making these blocks. They seem complex, but came together quickly. And I love the colors Natalie selected.
Over here, I shared my first word for Jessica's wonky bee quilt. I decided to work on some neutral patchwork to start assembling the quilt top.
Two words and Melissa's amazing paper-pieced star are now assembled. I also pieced the word art.
And that wraps up bee commitments for March.
Now, to quilt!
With one project exception, I was able to finish a few smaller things, but mostly worked to get the shoo-fly do.Good Stitches project quilted. It will be bound this week, and the first quilty finish of the year will be done!
I'm using a Dear Stella dot for the binding. It's against my beliefs to stick to such a limited palette, but it's good to challenge yourself, yes? I really wanted to throw in some yellow, or green, but I resisted!
I finished my next Wonky Bee assignment, some gradient strips (with pops of accent) for Melissa's project. I owe you guys a full post on round three of the wonky bee.
I also knocked out eleven more X & + blocks, thanks to a full afternoon of cutting scraps. It really is fun to sort through a stack all at once, and then sew them at my leisure.
A couple of wonky stars in the happiest of colors was also on my to-do list. Not a chore at all, no sirree.
I got to give the scrappy trip around the world block a run, for Sharon, as part of BaMS.
I also worked on a new baby quilt project, for my (?) step-sister (?), I guess you would call her? Whatever. She's family, and she's having a kid. This is actually a finished quilt top now. Picture to come!
So, whew. That's a lot, but like I said, it was a very productive week.We won't talk about the project that stumped me thrice, and still isn't finished. Because I will get it finished, and like it.
Ha.
Wishing you a very productive and fun week!
I've been thinking about a few ongoing scrappy projects, and I think this will be one of them.
I highly encourage you to give this block a try for yourself!
It is a little difficult to think about fall in Houston, though, since it doesn't really exist here!
I finished, and put it with my first block to mail, when I realized that the new block was most definitely smaller than the first.
How could this be? The 1/4" foot should have made me more precise, and I was stumped.
Then I remembered that the needle position should have been adjusted to 4.0 (vs. the default 3.5) before proceeding.
OOPS.
This week, I made a third postage stamp block, and now I can send Aylin her blocks.
And now I'll remember to adjust the needle each time I turn on the machine.
The too small block will go in my scrap bin. I'm sure I'll find a fun use for it!
I started a Wiksten tank this weekend, and almost finished. I'll share it soon!
I have a lot to share this week! Over the weekend, I finished a small knitting project and more bee blocks.
Back in February, Rachel encouraged me to knit a dishcloth. For some reason, I skipped that particular rite of passage when I learned to knit, FIVE years ago. Wow, I just realized that's how long I've been knitting.
I finally sat down to finish this little ballband washcloth over the weekend, and I love it! It's no secret that the Mason-Dixon pattern is a winner (it's been knit almost 8000 times on ravelry!).
I used KnitPicks Dishie cotton yarn, in Jay and Linen, about half a ball of each. I bought some additional colors of the yarn, so I expect to knit a few more of these.
I just love the texture!
So, my other weekend progress was working on bee blocks for the month.
In the Wonky Bee this month, Amanda asked for 14" bear paw blocks, in her favorite colors. I was planning to just make the large portion a single print, but then Melissa upped the ante for all of us with her blocks. They were so fun to make! I've been working on organizing my stash, so I pulled a group of scraps to use.
Oooh, artsy.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working on the stash, and I have all of my half-yards together and sorted by color now. This new storage unit was purchased at Target, and was a little smaller than I envisioned, but I think it will work well for the purpose.
I also have all yardage together now (in the four top left bins). I've still got some sorting to do, but my fabric is a lot more accessible now.
Elliott and I went to visit his parents this weekend, so later this week I'll share some new Oliver pictures, as well as a special wedding present I received. And, I might have wedding pictures in my possession!
As usual, overpacking occurred, at least in terms of projects. I brought a laundry basket, which was essentially full of fabric and notions.
My goal was to focus on May bee blocks and my improv quilt top.
I also brought, but barely touched, a pajama set for Oliver. Oh, well. They'll get made someday.
But the positives! Yes, let's talk about what got done.
First up, I happily crossed off my do.Good Stitches May blocks, for Deb. These are patchwork wheel blocks, using Don't call me Betsy's tutorial. I always enjoy digging through the scrap bin, and I made sure to pack lots of fun fabrics for these blocks.
Next month is my first month to plan a do.Good Stitches quilt. I hope I can come with something just as fun!
One block got finished for Bee a Modern Swapper. Nilya asked for 2.5" unfinished postage stamps. I also managed to cut out the squares for my second block. That should be finished in the next few days.
It felt good to finish so many pieced blocks, and as a treat, I started assembling my improv quilt top Saturday night.
And I finished! There was a little bit of small piecing left, and then I just worked on assembling.
It feels so good to make serious progress on a large project like this. I've been mainly making minis, doing wedding stuff, and making bee blocks, so this was quite an accomplishment.
Want proof?
Just look at my face!
P.S. Thanks to my friend Safieh for the two quilt pictures!
In other wedding news, I (and now my mom is helping!) am making napkins for each guest. This is the first batch. I'm really happy with how they're turning out, and I'm excited to be using some stashed fabrics.
I also finished two of my March bee blocks. These blocks are my first for the Bee a Modern Swapper group. We used a Freshly Pieced tutorial for Mosaic Blocks. This color combination is definitely popular right now. My group for do.Good Stitches is using a similar palette this month.
The Houston Modern Quilt Guild is making charity quilts this month using (mostly) fabric donations. I finished quilting this over the weekend, and just need to apply binding. We expect to finish at least twenty quilts before April.
Sometime around Christmas, Rachel and I were chatting about dishcloths, and she was shocked when I said I'd never knitted a dishcloth. I guess I skipped that step when I was learning to knit. So I ought some Knit Picks Dishie, and got down to business.
I'm using the tried and true Mason-Dixon Ballband pattern. Just a few rows here and there, mostly at night when I'm winding down, but I'll have a finished washcloth soon!
