Monday, August 10, 2009

Scrappy String Quilt

I'm finally getting around to my month in one of my virtual quilting bee groups! Using this tutorial, I'm asking my pals to put together 4 string quilt blocks for this month's project. The fabric is cut, some samples have been made, and the goods are out in the mail.

At long last I've found something to do with the phone books that are delivered at what feels like bimonthly intervals in Chicago. I've cut up 6" thin paper squares for my blocks and given each member of our group 6 to work on, hoping they'll at least do 4 for me. Because the strips are smaller (1" to 1.5"), the paper-piecing makes the job go more easily. Can't wait to get my blocks back and put it all together!

23 comments:

Eila said...

So beautiful color!

amylouwhosews said...

Awesome! I've never paper pieced before - so this is new to me! I love the colors here. So bright and happy!

Unknown said...

there is some of that happy orange again!

Barbara Sindlinger said...

What a great idea for an old phone book. Love your fabric choices too.

Sarah Pead said...

oh hooray! I was wondering what you had in store for us. :)

Bobbi said...

Okay... I've done paper piecing before, but only with "paper piecing" paper. Are you telling us that you used old phone book pages to piece the blocks? Because that's a great idea. After the block is finished, does the phone book paper tear away easily?

Sarah said...

Well, it seemed to tear off fine when I did some test squares the other day. I've never used official paper piecing paper, but the newsprint seemed to work well!

Bobbi said...

Thanks for the info Sarah. I will have to give this a try. Pretty sure I have a Big Yellow Book somewhere in the house... :)

Jessica said...

I always feel guilty recycling those giant phone books...using them for paper piecing is a great idea!

Lindahl News 2 said...

You are good, Sarah. Very good!

Elizabeth said...

love the colors!

Angie said...

I love the colors too!

Jody said...

Looks great...I'm making a string quilt too. I was just admiring some of your other quilts, like the Posh Tot Quilt and wondered if you machine stitch or hand stitch your binding?

Thanks!

Sarah said...

Jody, I machine stitch the binding onto the front side of the quilt and then holding it in place folded over to the back finish the backside by hand-stitching.

KateKwiltz said...

Those are gorgeous! LOVE the colors, they're such happy squares!

They just delivered another dozen phone books this week. I thought it was just us, but now I know we're not alone. What gives????

Amy said...

It's a great idea to do this for your quilting bee month. I've admired Ashley's quilt since she first posted it but I don't have the stamina for making one of my own - the little strips annoy me! Can't wait to see what turns out.

Malissa said...

Go Team Orange! (You always make it look so good.)

Unknown said...

I got mine today! I'm excited to get started :)

Sara said...

I love your strnig blocks! They look great and I love that fabric!!

Roseanne said...

I have been making a paper pecing quilt just like this one with all my left over fabric.It is a lot of fun to make. I am making mine in between my other projects.

knitngardnr said...

I absolutely LOVE these colors. would you mind telling me about these fabric collections?

Sarah said...

Hey, sorry to reply so late. The fabrics I chose were from various designers. Some is Kaffe Fassett, Michael Miller, Jennifer Paganelli, Amy Butler, and Joel Dewberry...a little of everything!

Zarina said...

What a way to use up those telephone book - need to search one for keeps.