Category Archives: strips

Woven

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2017_July 23_Woven blocks_17 inches square

At our July guild meeting, one of our members brought a quilt to show and tell that she had made from strips.  Her quilt was 9 blocks in a 3 by 3 setting.  I think she said she made her blocks 18″ square.

I was so inspired from the meeting that I went home and the next day I dug out my bins of cut strips and started making my own version.  My blocks are 17 inches square.  I made them this size because that is the width of my cutting mat and it is so easy to use it to square up the block after piecing.  I decided I wanted more of a rectangular quilt so I went with 12 blocks in a 3 by 4 setting.  I need to decide on what colour to use for my sashing.  I am thinking of a solid grey.

The inspiration for this quilt is a quilt called Woven by Kati Spence that is in a book called Scraps Inc.

I still have plenty of strips left so I am trying to come up with a way to piece the back so that I can use more of my stash of strips.

I realize this was a deviation from working on my UFO’s but I just had to give this one a try.  After all, making these blocks allowed me to work on another one of my goals which is to use up my stash of fabric.

Using up the Green Strips

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I am on a mission to use up all of the green fabric strips that are on my fabric shelf.  The first quilt top that I made was, “Candy Coated” a pattern from Sunday Morning Quilts (by Cheryl Arkison and Amanda Jean Nyberg).  download

This quilt top met with a mishap when I tried to trim the left side.  It ended up being narrower than I would like after my attempt at squaring it up.  After agonizing over ideas to make the quilt wider again, I have given up and made the quilt shorter instead.  Now it is back in proportion to its width and is still plenty long enough for a lap at 63″ x 75″.  I will finish squaring it up after it is quilted.

CANDY COATED - 63 in x 75 in

CANDY COATED – 63 in x 75 in

I ended up with many chunks of pieced fabric strips as leftovers after finishing Candy Coated so I came up with a second quilt which alternates the pieced strips from Candy Coated with framed four patches.  This is a “leftover” quilt.  That name doesn’t seem too glamorous, so it has since been renamed “Strings and Cobblestones” by my good friend LindaJ.  I like this name better than Leftovers, so Strings and Cobblestones it is.

STRINGS AND COBBLESTONES - 57 in x 73 in

STRINGS AND COBBLESTONES – 57 in x 73 in

I still have leftovers from Strings and Cobblestones so I am working on making “slabs” from the bits.  In years gone by, these types of blocks were called Crumb Blocks or Mile a Minute blocks but now in the Sunday Morning Quilts book, the updated name seems to be “slabs”.  I have made several quilts using this technique over the years and it is the only way i have ever found to ensure that 100% of every last little bit of fabric is used in some way.  After putting together slabs, there are no leftovers!

Green slabs.

Green slabs.

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Shhhhhhhh…….someone thinks he is hiding.
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Strips, Strings, and Leftovers

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I have been busy playing with my bin of strips, strings, and bits again. I love making blocks from that jumble of fabric. This time, I have been making half log cabin blocks. These blocks are rather mindless and low stress. There is no matching of intersections or points, just fun sewing! Once I had a few blocks made, I tried out some layouts on the “design floor”.

This layout was inspired by, “Mumbo Gumbo”.

Linda thought this layout looked a little dimensional–like blocks that are overlapping one another.

This is my favorite layout–on point in a chevron design.

The funny thing about that bin of strips, strings, and leftovers–no matter how many blocks I make, the pile does not seem to go down at all! I swear these things multiply when you aren’t looking!