Saturday, December 28, 2013

Tess's String Quilt Guidelines

Here is the finished String Quilt top I promised, with Sophie taking a peek around the edge.  She can't believe I did such beautiful work from this chaos...
This quilt was made from strip sets that measured at least 12 inches wide, with a 2 inch (finished) strip of black on white fabric as the center strip. 
From these strips, you cut an 8 & 1/2 inch square, making sure that the black on white fabric is the exact center from one corner to its diagonal opposite.  I used 48 squares.  The left over triangle pieces from these strips then get trimmed into right triangles that measure 8 & 3/4 inches across the longest side.
The inner border of the quilt is 2 1/2 inch strips of the black on white. 
The corner squares are cut to 4 & 1/4 inches. 
It takes about 3 & 1/2 to 4 yards of black on white fabric. 
The overall measurement of the quilt is about 60 X 75 inches, so a large lap quilt.  Add another row and column of blocks and you have a large twin quilt.   
Unfortunately, I need to make about five more of these to get all Mom's scraps used up!
Happy Scrapping in the New Year!
Toodles!
Tess

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Tess is cleaning out the mess...

Hi all,
Tess here...
Hope everyone has had an amazing Christmas!  We had lots of fun!  Now, time to set some goals for the New Year and get stitching!

I have been sneaking in some work on Mom's scrap bins.  She has about four that look something like this...
And this...
Can you believe it?
We can't keep those hanging around in the New Year, cluttering up our creative space! 

Looking at all that wasted fabric, I couldn't wait to get my paws on it!  So, in hopes of cleaning out some of Mom's hoard...I mean stash, I have been making strip sets.


I chose a variety of black on white fabrics for the very center of each set and then just started adding my strings!  I made sure they were wide enough for me to cut my squares with the black on white strip being the center diagonal. 
I saved the left overs and they will be used in the border. 
Stay tuned and I will post my pattern and pieced string top here in another day or two, certainly by New Year's Day, so stay tuned.
If you are inspired to start stripping with me, I would love to see your work!

Toodles!
Tess