Wednesday, January 6, 2010

scrappy spiderweb 6 1/2" block

I have been talking like I am going to do a string project. I cut 8" papers from the phone book to start (OK that was several yrs ago). I have made piles of scraps (most get misplaced or used for other projects).
The other day I fell in LOVE with a Diamond string block and decided that was going to be my new TO-DO.--- wrong! (In my defense, I did cut out the diamonds- they just didn't speak to me.)

I remembered seeing a scrappy spiderweb layout a couple of years ago. I played around with the 8" papers and figured out a way to make a 6 1/2" block. This first block is done in the traditional way. Sew one small piece at a time.--- Seriously thought this might be the only block and that it is going to end up a potholder.

Look at the paper scraps - I can't imagine tearing that much paper on the 120 blocks I want to make. I had to come up with plan "B"

My 8" phone book pages were cut in quarters on the diagonal. I used a 3" sq. of the solid (base fabric) and made a template so I could cut the kite shape quickly. (there is a little waste but I can live with it)
I then sewed 6 strips of misc sizes together. Most of mine are around 1" (ish)- less than 2"
I ironed the set and used another self made template to rough cut the strip triangles. I decided to sew them on the paper to make sure I was attaching correctly.


I think I like the possibility of having blocks with matching fabrics in them. In this strip set I got a total of 7 of the smaller triangles. One would need 8 to make a block. These will get set aside and used with other 'orphan' pieces.



I found a small pile of 2-4" scraps and decided to sub-cut them into strips to use for this project.
The cutting was by sight so hopefully there will be enough to get at least a few matching blocks. I am pretty excited that I got this far. This quilt has a strong chance of actually getting made now that I have figured out how to get the look without all the sewing and flipping.
Tomorrow I will see how many strip sets I can do before my head explodes- I may have just found a New-To-Me fun way to do the string thing.
This is a lot more variety than it looks. Wish me luck.- cw