Top is finished and I flipped to see what back to use, I am going with a mustard yellow!
I edited in these first two pictures to show the top and the stage where I added the inner border.
To read the story behind this strange looking top.....scroll down--- cw
I am not sure what I am going to name this quilt. It may not even make it to the 'quilt' stage.
Earlier this year I made a couple of large quilts for a friend. I kept the scraps and added Reds and Golds to my string pile.
I got so far as to cut 8" phone book pgs and tacked a 'red' to each on the diagonal.
Then it sat, (mocking me, I might add) for many months. I just never seemed to be in the mood to sew strings.
In my defense, I have been working pretty hard and I have been using my 'sewing time' to organize the sewing rooms. (I think I have using this excuse for a couple of years now.)
Anyway, one of my cyber quilting friends tried to gently nudge me into committing to 'string for awhile'. There are groups that are doing A-String-Block-A-Day for a month. For some reason, I just wasn't happy with the red fabrics I had for the center starting piece. (Traditionally the starter is a solid to make an alternate design when assembled).
One bit of advice my buddy gave was that 'strings' are such a great mindless sew.
That I pondered. I like to mindless sew, probably as much or more than the next gal.
That phrase was going to be my marching orders to start on the String Blocks.
Wrong again-----I did make a couple of trys by adding a gold to a dozen or so blocks. While doing so I got to thinking that if this was going to be mindless, I might as well have a little fun with it.
I started a new to me game, called "Flip a Coin" . Rules are simple, Once I start something, I have to finish (for this project only- future projects can still become UFO's at any time)
Once I complete a step, I then decided on a next step and flip a coin, HEADS I do what I was thinking, TAILS I think up something else.
I wish I had taken pictures as I went along (One does need to document madness, just in case) I didn't get a picture of the quarter but you can take my word for it. I am excited to show off the short version of how this process worked.
After sewing gold scraps to the red centers- I asked myself if I wanted to continue- the coin flip was "tales"- that quickly ended my string block project. With one "NO" and dozens of strips sew together, I thought I could make 4-patches and the flip confirmed. I took the paper off, folded the strips in half and eye ball cut each into 3 sections. I then sewed a total of 64 sets of red/gold.
I flipped to see if I should re-size- answer was NO
I wondered if I wanted to use these as centers for a scrappy log cabin- NO
Just b/c a process is mindless doesn't mean that one isn't thinking of other things. I considered the concept of adding borders to make the blocks larger- YES
I wanted to use black- NO
RED- NO
Green?- YES (One would think that I could just pick what I wanted, but where is the fun in that? Besides the green is dark enough that it serves as a black.)
I don't remember all the NO's but the YESes ended up letting me re-size the bordered blocks to 6 1/2" And set them together with out sashing (I was hoping for red sash with yellow setting sqs- that one was a NO)
Here I have a 1/4 of the top pieced and sewn, I haven't flipped yet to see if I get to iron it (lol)
Technically I need to finish setting the center before I proceed but I have a hard time staying on task.
The next couple of "heads" were choosing golds/yellows for the inner border, Green for the middle border (OK I had to throw that one a couple of times!)
I sewed the golds together in random widths, all came from the string bin. A couple were over 4" wide and probably shouldn't have been there but, I was glad to get to use them. I hope to get a 3 1/2" scrappy border. (I wanted 2 " and was told NO)
These need pressed, trimmed and attached. Hopefully in that order. As you might have guessed I am slowing down on the coin toss for every decision.
After I got the golds lined up, and confirmed that green was going next, I considered doing a scrappy reds for the outer border- NO- what? Do that again--NO (stupid quarter!)
Can I use a print? YES
Funny thing is I have always wanted to use this material in a quilt and just haven't had the right one. It matches perfect. It has reds, golds, and greens. I also have enough to do a 6 1/2" outer border.
I have a couple of things I have to do tomorrow but when I get home, I am locking myself in the sewing room and finishing this top.
I am thinking I only have a short couple of hours of mindless sewing left.
This was a lot of fun. Next time I need some no-brainer sewing, I am going to use the Magic 8 Ball!
Earlier this year I made a couple of large quilts for a friend. I kept the scraps and added Reds and Golds to my string pile.
I got so far as to cut 8" phone book pgs and tacked a 'red' to each on the diagonal.
Then it sat, (mocking me, I might add) for many months. I just never seemed to be in the mood to sew strings.
In my defense, I have been working pretty hard and I have been using my 'sewing time' to organize the sewing rooms. (I think I have using this excuse for a couple of years now.)
Anyway, one of my cyber quilting friends tried to gently nudge me into committing to 'string for awhile'. There are groups that are doing A-String-Block-A-Day for a month. For some reason, I just wasn't happy with the red fabrics I had for the center starting piece. (Traditionally the starter is a solid to make an alternate design when assembled).
One bit of advice my buddy gave was that 'strings' are such a great mindless sew.That I pondered. I like to mindless sew, probably as much or more than the next gal.
That phrase was going to be my marching orders to start on the String Blocks.
Wrong again-----I did make a couple of trys by adding a gold to a dozen or so blocks. While doing so I got to thinking that if this was going to be mindless, I might as well have a little fun with it.
I started a new to me game, called "Flip a Coin" . Rules are simple, Once I start something, I have to finish (for this project only- future projects can still become UFO's at any time)
Once I complete a step, I then decided on a next step and flip a coin, HEADS I do what I was thinking, TAILS I think up something else.
I wish I had taken pictures as I went along (One does need to document madness, just in case) I didn't get a picture of the quarter but you can take my word for it. I am excited to show off the short version of how this process worked.
After sewing gold scraps to the red centers- I asked myself if I wanted to continue- the coin flip was "tales"- that quickly ended my string block project. With one "NO" and dozens of strips sew together, I thought I could make 4-patches and the flip confirmed. I took the paper off, folded the strips in half and eye ball cut each into 3 sections. I then sewed a total of 64 sets of red/gold.
I flipped to see if I should re-size- answer was NO
I wondered if I wanted to use these as centers for a scrappy log cabin- NO
Just b/c a process is mindless doesn't mean that one isn't thinking of other things. I considered the concept of adding borders to make the blocks larger- YES
I wanted to use black- NO
RED- NO
Green?- YES (One would think that I could just pick what I wanted, but where is the fun in that? Besides the green is dark enough that it serves as a black.)
I don't remember all the NO's but the YESes ended up letting me re-size the bordered blocks to 6 1/2" And set them together with out sashing (I was hoping for red sash with yellow setting sqs- that one was a NO)
Here I have a 1/4 of the top pieced and sewn, I haven't flipped yet to see if I get to iron it (lol)
Technically I need to finish setting the center before I proceed but I have a hard time staying on task.
The next couple of "heads" were choosing golds/yellows for the inner border, Green for the middle border (OK I had to throw that one a couple of times!)
I sewed the golds together in random widths, all came from the string bin. A couple were over 4" wide and probably shouldn't have been there but, I was glad to get to use them. I hope to get a 3 1/2" scrappy border. (I wanted 2 " and was told NO)
These need pressed, trimmed and attached. Hopefully in that order. As you might have guessed I am slowing down on the coin toss for every decision.
After I got the golds lined up, and confirmed that green was going next, I considered doing a scrappy reds for the outer border- NO- what? Do that again--NO (stupid quarter!)
Can I use a print? YES
Funny thing is I have always wanted to use this material in a quilt and just haven't had the right one. It matches perfect. It has reds, golds, and greens. I also have enough to do a 6 1/2" outer border.
I have a couple of things I have to do tomorrow but when I get home, I am locking myself in the sewing room and finishing this top.
I am thinking I only have a short couple of hours of mindless sewing left.
This was a lot of fun. Next time I need some no-brainer sewing, I am going to use the Magic 8 Ball!
Before you get concerned and call the men in the white suits to get a room ready for me, just know that I have had a blast. I used scraps, everything was pulled from stash. I have a stupid story to tell.
AND...... no one is ever going to copy this one!
