I am determined this year to make a significant reduction in my stash of strings and strips.  I have been piecing string blocks and stacking them on the shelf until I have enough to make a quilt.  I have used various materials for foundations – most recently used dryer sheets. Before using the dryer sheets as a foundation they need to be pressed with a cool iron.  You start with a pile that looks like this:

Used dryer sheets

And you end up with blocks like these after trimming to 6″ square.

String blocks pieced onto used dryer sheets

I have 121 – 6″ trimmed blocks on the shelf right now.

Stack of trimmed string blocks

I need to decide which quilt layout I am going to use these blocks in so I know if I am close to having enough blocks for a quilt top.  I am always on the lookout for ideas to use string blocks so I don’t have to continue to repeat the same design over and over.

I have also been piecing larger blocks (8″ square) onto fabric foundations.  I was gifted some broadcloth from my MIL’s stash.  The fabric is more lightweight than I like to use in my regular quilt blocks but it makes a great foundation for string blocks.  These are a few of the string blocks.  There area a total of 95 – 8″ blocks in this stack on the shelf.

8″ string blocks pieced on broadcloth foundations

String blocks pieced on a fabric foundation make for a heavier quilt top than string blocks pieced on a dryer sheet foundation.

Despite all the string blocks I have been making, I don’t seem to have a significant reduction in the string / strip stash.  I think I will be making string blocks for some time to come!