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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Sewing String Quilt Blocks



Since I discovered I could sew with this broken wrist I've been working on some string quilt blocks. String quilts are a great project for the beginning quilter and are pretty simple. You start with a foundation block, mine are 7" square cut out of some light weight cotton fabric that's too thin for regular quilting. Then you just sew strips (strings) of fabric across them until it's completely covered. Once this is done you trim them down, mine are trimmed to 6 1/2". On the right bottom corner of the picture you can see my drawer of strings. Whenever I have scraps I cut them into strings and add them to this drawer. It's in just the right spot so I can grab, place and sew. The shoe box you can see in the background holds smaller scraps for the corners. Right next to my sewing machine I keep my stack of foundations. I keep them there all the time because very often, even if I'm working on something else, I'll often add a few strings as I go. You can also see a finished block near the top that I draped over a bin to hide the mess (lol).

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I'm hoping to finish at least one quilt top before I go back to work. I just sent two tops to an online charity crafting friend, the North Hills Quilter, to finish up. One was a string quilt and one was made from donated blocks that I set together. I can't wait to see a pic of the finished quilts.

4 comments:

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Sewing with a broken wrist is impressive! Great job!

Helen in the UK said...

I've just done a tidy/rearrange in my sewing room. My strings are about to outgrow their alloted space, so I need to get busy on some HeartString blocks too! Kudos to you doing it with a broken wrist :)

Betty said...

What a wonderful article! I want to learn to quilt and have a few questions.

What type of fabric do you use for the foundation block?

How wide are the strips/strings? Looks like they vary, right?

Do you have any tutorials?

By the way thanks for placing an ad on my website: www.leescandles.com

I have place two on your blogs. One for Grandma Betty's Body Butters and one for http://renewedresources.etsy.com where I sell art and craft supplies.

You really have a wonderful blog!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful blog!

What type of fabric is used for the foundation block?

How wide are your strips/strings? Looks like they can vary.

I want to learn to quilt and this looks like a great place to start!

Thanks! Grandma Betty