Always Love to See Progress

I knew I wanted to add some more applique to my Geese Tracks & Improv. quilt but wasn't sure where that would be. A couple people had suggested that I needed to add a red basket but I just couldn't quite see it. Big? Little? Fat? Wonky? Until it managed to sneak into my quilt all on its on. (Absolutely no help from me at all.)*wink

More work on Geese Tracks & Improv.

One basket just doesn't look right though. I decided to give the red basket a supporting cast and make it the star. That is, if I can get this layout figured out to my satisfaction! I'm at the point where everything just needs to be transferred to my design 'floor' so there is room to spread out. And wowsers, could the color of my wall be any more terrible than it is for this particular project?

Trying to figure out the basket layout

Still working on my String Play blocks too. The are moving along at a whizzing pace. That's the lovely thing about working straight from the scrap bin you know!

String Play Blocks

After I get a nice stock of fabric scraps piled up right beside my chair, then all I have to do is reach over and grab what I need. I don't pre-iron or pre-cut my scraps. There's no need. The only thing I might do is whack off about 5 1/2" inches--for the length (roughly with my scissors) if I grab an overly large scrap.

String play blocks before ironing and trimming

Grab and sew, grab and sew until my blocks are the appropriate width (remember the length on these has to be min. of 5") and pretty soon I end up with a nice little stack of blocks. Yep, they're rumpled and thready, but all that can be taken care of very easily later on.

String Play goodness

See? Proof positive that scrap bin blocks can be tamed! I iron the seams in each block all one direction and then when I am finished with that step, I trim them all to 5". With these blocks I decided to go with variation #2 so I just have to trim the length of each block to 5" and then trim straight sides to the width. It shouldn't matter if the width is different block by block because I will be sewing them into horizontal rows and I can even up the rows later.

After doing some calculations, I decided I better do about 30 plus more blocks. That will give me about 225 blocks in all. Thank goodness I remembered my plaid strips tucked away separate from the other scraps and a couple shirts that could be up-cycled too. Two of them were actually my brothers shirts (he passed away about four years ago) that I haven't been able to even contemplate cutting up until now. It's a good time and a good quilt for this, esp. since I have already added in a bit of my grandma's fabrics. I really don't want to use all of any one shirt, but it will definitely add character and sweetness to my quilt.