String Quilt Blocks

Work in progress :

String blocks

Starting at 9 o'clock in the morning :

Sewing room

Cutting stripes :

Stripes

Three hours later :

25 blocks

I have done 25 blocks since I showed you the first one last saturday and I can say that

I really enjoy working on this project. It's so nice to assemble all those bright colors!

More blocks have to be sewn before reaching the size of a lap quilt. I hope I will show you

soon the finished top. Greetings.

Christine

Tutorial for a String Quilt Block

So much fun and so easy to do!

Finished block

First of all I iron all my selected fabrics.

Ironed fabrics

Then I look for scraps suitable for my project.

Scraps

I cut strips of variegated width (between 3 and 5cm).

Stripes

I cut a sheet of paper (for ex. printing paper) 21/21cm.

Instead of glue, I had the idea to use a double face, very thin,

 sticking tape, that I stuck from one angle to the opposite angle.

Then I lay the first strip on it.

I sew the second strip right side against right side.

Sewing with small stitches enables you to take off

easily the back paper at the end.

I go on sewing strips one after the other, on one side of the central

stripe. Each time I sew a strip, I IRON IT CAREFULLY, 

then I turn my work and go on the same way with the rest 

of the strips, on the other side of the central strip. 

Finally it gives this :

I turn my block and cut each side along the paper.

Last step : throwing away the paper. 

This is very easily done!

I hope you will have as much fun as I had doing such a block,

and you will go on for a whole String Quilt!

If ever you have a question to ask me, please don't hesitate!

In my next post I will show you the progress of my string quilt. Greetings to everybody!

Christine

Sewing Room

A new project.

I don't know if somebody is like me, but when I take it into my head to start  

a new quilt, I have first to clean everything around me and put order in my 

sewing room. That's what I did yesterday and I think it's ok, everything

is tidy now, I can start my first block, using the fabrics seen in my post 

of last saturday. This is also an opportunity to show you some parts of 

my sewing place and stuff.

Carboard boxes

Threads and fabrics

My computer desk

My sewing machine

Greetings to all my new (and old) blogger friends.
Christine

Pink Blossoms

This is the very first blossom I found this morning in my garden on the apricot tree... so incredibly beautiful!

The freshness and the refinement of it reminded me of those fabrics I had bought two years ago in London, from one of my favorite shops in Chelsea : Cabbages and Roses.

They are such lovely and fresh linens of such a nice quality! 

At that time I had sewn with those fabrics three cushions that I put on my sofa at spring time. 

I am thinking now that I could sew some tea towels with the remains.

This refined Limoges tea cup belonged to my mother. 

A beautiful book I read in my twenties.

This is what I enjoy most : a nice cup of tea with a good book and peace around me!

A Spring Quilting Project

These days in Athens there is a kind of perfume of spring. The sky is bright and sun shining. With such a kind weather, someone can only wake up in the morning with a smile on the face and the brain full of joyful plans! As far as I am concerned, projects usually draw me towards painting or quilting. So today I decided to go to my garden and take some pictures of the few blossoms and flowers, as flowers are always a source of inspiration either for watercolor painting or creating a new quilt. Therefore I chose these fabrics, full of lovely and bright colors, with many flower prints, reflecting the mood of the time!

Beautiful mauve against the Greek blue sky :

So fragile wild yellow flower :

Rosemary with a bee gathering pollen :

Lavender :

Azalea :

Observing the perfect combination of colors in nature gives you a sense of creation with harmony.

I love those two almost forgotten fabrics from my stash :

New purchased reds :

Love dots :

I am so enthousiastic and eager to start a new quilt with those glorious colored fabrics! 

Soon I will show the first block... and a tutorial.

Half Square Triangle (HST) TUTORIAL with Layer Cake

For this little quilt I chose a Layer Cake 

from Moda, line Hometown. 

I think the colors are suitable for a baby girl or a baby boy.

In fact with one layer Cake I have just enough 

fabric to sew two baby quilts.

I put 4 layers together and cut them in 2 triangles.

Again I cut them in 2 parts.

I obtain 16 triangles.

I sew them 2 by 2 ...

... in a continuous way.

I press the seam on the side.

One seam on the right and one seam on the left.

When all the blocks are ready, I use my iron

to open and press the seam.

 I cut again the blocks to be exactly 23/23 cm.

Then I begin to assemble 4 blocks,

after chosing a suitable arrangement.

  

I sew each row of 4 blocks,

pressing all the seams the same side.

Next row, I press the seams the opposite way.

I press open the horizontal seam.

Finished top.

 I will show the ready completed quilt soon, once quilted and binded.