I have the first two rows of my Rock Island Campfires string quilt together.
Rock Island Campfires – In Progress
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Category Archives: dryer sheets
New String Block Project
I often make string blocks when I am between projects or if I just want to sew something but I am not interested in focusing. Sometimes you just need to mindlessly sew to wind down after a stressful day at work.
I am always on the lookout for ways to use the string blocks once they are made. This was a quilt that appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting. The quilt is called Rock Island Campfires and was made by Marianne Fons.
Marianne’s blocks were pieced on paper foundations and measured 4.5″ square. Four string blocks pieced together with a cornerstone and sashing measured 10.5″ square unfinished. I pieced my blocks with a used dryer sheet as a foundation and trimmed them to 5.75″ which made my block larger at 13″ unfinished.
I found the perfect fabric for sashing my blocks – a tiny black and white houndstooth – First Crush by Sweetwater for Moda.
These are some of my blocks on the design wall.
Dryer Sheet String Flimsy
This was yesterday’s finish. The dryer sheet string top is now a completed flimsy. This is another big one – 92″ wide x 104″ long. I have used up every last little scrap of the blue batik star fabric on the sashing and outer border. I was originally going to put a 6″ outer border on this one, but the remaining fabric after cutting sashing only allowed for a 4″ border. I have lots of the red fabric left so this one will likely be bound in red once it is quilted.
We are in for another bright sunny day and you can see the sun already shining through the top of this quilt top as it hangs from the clothes line.
Moving Projects Forward Has Come to an Abrupt Hault
Thursday night, I was making great progress on another UFO. I was busy adding the sashing strips to my dryer sheet diamond string blocks. I even got one full row of blocks sewn together and I was ready to put the last seam in the second row when it happened.
I had pinned my blocks together and I was busy pulling out the pins just before the presser foot reached them. I missed pulling out a pin, but my machine hit it dead on.
So now sadly, my DSM is in the hospital awaiting the technician’s attention. The needle remained intact in the accident, but the pin was split in two and was jammed into the machine knocking my machine out of time.
So now, there is just a hole in my work table where Heidi would normally sit. I can tell you that I am really missing her. We have been together since 1999. My husband bought Heidi for me when I graduated from my professional accounting designation courses. It had been a long haul–10 years of study and work experience and my husband felt I deserved something very special.
This is not my Heidi, but a machine very similar to her. (I pulled this picture off the Internet.)
Prior to Heidi, I had a Kenmore that I named Zip. This machine had two speeds–super fast and stop. I had to sew with a slipper shoved into the presser foot to help slow Zip down. You always had to be ready to grab the fly wheel when Zip would get into one of his moods and take off at top speed. If Zip was happy and sewing at a comfortable speed, he would make a sound like an Austrailian diggorie-do. Zip still lives at my house, taking up space in the cupboard. My daughter has used Zip on occasion but I have not sewn on Zip since Heidi came to live with me. The only other machine that I have is an antique Singer treadle machine that was given to me years ago by my grandmother. I posted about that Singer machine back in July 2006: http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2006/07/singer.html This machine does not have a 1/4″ foot for piecing or a walking foot.
The Bernina dealer has said that Heidi will be out of commission for at least two weeks so I may have to bring either Zip or the Singer back into service
Quilt Finishes While Computer is Down
I have been disconnected from the computer world for the past week. My computer crashed on May 4 while I was on line talking to a friend on line. Thanks to my daughter sharing her laptop with me throughout the week, I was able to keep limited contact with my on-line friends. Thanks to the computer talents of my son, my computer is now back up and running and I have rejoined the blogging world and I am back “connected” to all of you.
While I did not have my computer, I did manage to make good use of my time and finished off some quilts.
This is my dryer sheet diamond quilt. This quilt was completed to the flimsy stage on May 27, 2007 and was long arm machine quilted using the Baptist Fan template on January 6, 2008.
This is my Hibiscus Convergence quilt. We made this quilt on a FAB Saturday in March. Although it is hard to see in this picture, this quilt was long arm machine quilted with the clam sheet template.
This quilt is the product of a couple of challenges and a FAB Saturday. LindaJ‘s quilting group challenged themselves to use the feature fabric in this quilt, the merrkittys in a quilt. Pam challenged the FABs to use the yellow star fabric in a quilt using the 9 Patch Pizzazz pattern. The FABs are donating their finished 9PP quilts to Pam’s M2M project. Tada…presenting IIWII (It Is What It Is), my Merkitty 9 Patch for Mexico quilt! Now don’t say that three times in a row! LOL