Finishing up my
String Play quilt made me realize
once again how much I love a good scrappy quilt. Not just a quilt with a hundred pieces of fabric. No. I'm talking about something made from the overflowing scrap bin over in the corner of the quilt room.
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| Blue and green scraps |
I get this weird idea in my head that every single quilt made needs to be vastly different from the ones I've made before or it's simply a waste of time. Which is ridiculous, especially when it comes to scraps, because hello? Even if I use the exact same pattern design, it will never be
identical if made from the scrap bin!
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| Looking at the blue strips on the wall.... |
How could it possibly be when the scraps are ever changing depending on my latest quilt making efforts? But I'm kinda slow that way. There needs to be a
good reason. So this time I'm working toward a
blue and green string quilt. Just because I'm still in love with the whole string thing. That's good enough for me.*wink
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Gonna need a lot more 6" strings than this and
then a whole stack of green ones..... |
And yeah. I don't have a lot of strings either, just oddball bits and pieces like the rest of you. The thing is, it's all part of a string if you want to make it one. I just use my scissors a lot, trim and sew pieces until I have a string. I try to let the strings end up however wide they end up, but I do have limits, otherwise they wouldn't be strings would they? Somewhere around 3" wide, I whack off the extra--it's really just that simple. No rotary cutting here until I have multiple string units ready to trim to a uniform length.
This quilt doesn't feel very urgent so I have a feeling it's gonna be an 'in between' sort of project. For now it just feels good to have another stringy, scrap attack sort of quilt in the lineup! Linking up to
Nicky and
Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday!
Oh, thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteEspecially the part about making your own strings. I want to make a string quilt, but I don't tend to generate string-shaped scraps, just leftover bitsy blobs. I hadn't thought of sewing them together that way. All kinds of horizons just opened up!
How beautiful to see all those blues together and to add greens in will look so fresh. Happy scrappy string sewing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see all the strings one of our enthusiastic ministry members has cut up in the last couple weeks I think we'll have a lesson in your method of scrappy string sewing! There are a lot of familiar blue and green fabrics in your boxes, they are going to make a great forest-meets-the-ocean kind of snuggly quilt.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your free spirit.
ReplyDeletelove scrappy I use triangles,squares, rectangles strings etc n mine all mixed up and just grabbed from the box they are in
ReplyDeleteLove string quilts, love seeing another string project, enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI do love a good string quilt. These blues are very calming. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you use scissors for cutting the strings instead of a rotary cutter and ruler. You are a free spirit.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Just something to keep the mind occupied and the scissors flying!
ReplyDeleteI'm a dedicated rotary cutter user - maybe I need to try using scissors, it might inspire me do something with my scraps!
ReplyDelete(I have no idea if I am a no-reply commenter, so in case I am, my email is ADonald466@aol.com)
I agree - using scraps allows us to use the same process again and again with unique results each time around.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have lots of blues and greens. I can't remember seeing lots of dark blues in your quilts though, Audrey. It must be because I see each of your quilts as a whole instead of in pieces. Like you, I sometimes sew end to end to get a long enough string. I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you decide to do with these. You always have something interesting in progress!
ReplyDelete--Nancy. (ndmessier @ aol.com, joyforgrace.blogspot.com)
One can never make too many string quilts. They're always my favorites. I like your blues and greens all together.
ReplyDeleteYou can't have too much of a good thing!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the process and the emptying out of scrap bins! Thank you for linking up to #scraptastictuesday
ReplyDelete