Monday, March 25, 2019

All About Strings (and Scraps)

It's my day for the All About Strings blog hop, hosted by Carla of Creatin' in the Sticks! When she published that this hop was happening, I jumped on it because I really needed to get through some of my scraps.

When I get to the place that my fabric is not enough to put back on the shelf, I cut those scraps into strips and/or squares of various sizes; squares from 5" down to 2", strips from 2 1/2" down to 1 1/2" and then the strings are saved as well. (I won't tell you about the basket of scraps waiting to be cut...) I have shoe-box size crates these all go in, and let me tell you, I am getting quite a stack of them. When I read that Pat Sloan only allows 2 crates to fill up before she does something with them, I thought I'd better get cracking!

Our quilt club, the Cerro Gordo Quilters, has an annual retreat at Threads of Time in Danville, IL, and I had decided early on that I was going to only take my scraps--my strings and my 5" blocks--to make something, anything, with them. Carla's hop helped me focus more on strings, but the 5" blocks were handy too.

At first I thought I'd just make a bunch of squares using strings for a table runner, but then I thought some quarter square triangle blocks made from 5" squares would look nice too, so I made enough to alternate them on a table runner. My string blocks were large enough to accommodate the size of the 4 quarter square triangles in a block, and I forget what size that was now--maybe 7 1/2"??


Then I decided I would piece the back with strings too. Man, does that take a long time!
Here is a peek from one side. 


More of a peek...


And the whole thing:


I quilted it using my walking foot and those "organic waves"--easy peasy.

The binding is leftover 2 1/2" strings that I pieced together. I love it--either side could be used for the runner.

Then I thought it would be fun to make a star block with a string-pieced center. I had brought some extra background fabric since I wasn't sure I had enough light colored 5" pieces, and I did have to use some of it. I didn't use a pattern, just figured out what I needed to do. The center is an 8 1/2" square, and the outer squares are 4 1/2". 


I made 4 at retreat and have more half square triangles ready to go, but I don't know if I want a quilt or what out of these, so I have stopped for now.


The other day, I decided it would be fun to make a zipper bag out of my strings, so I opened up a box again (I have 3 boxes of strings), and pulled out stuff until I put together these 2 pieces:


Then I used mostly bigger scraps (ones in that basket to be cut) for the lining pieces:


Here is my bag, front and back:



and inside (It's about 14 x 17," a nice size for caring sewing stuff). Again, no pattern, just putting together until I had a size I liked.


Sew, there are my projects. I still have more strings than I know what to do with, and a ton more 5" squares, not to mention the smaller stuff. I think it grew while I was working with it--I didn't make a dent. So, I believe there will be more stringy/scrappy projects in my future!

Thanks, Carla, for hosting this amazing hop!

Here are today's other hoppers with their wonderful projects:

Tuesday, March 26th



Just Sew Quilter  (You are here!)







37 comments:

  1. The table runner and bags are pretty. The patterns are eye catching.

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  2. Wowzers, Carol. You really rocked the hop. Those stars are going to be so pretty in whatever you do and the runner and bag are super too. Thank you for joining the All About Strings Blog Hop. I'm excited to try everything I see.

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  3. Way to go ty for sharing these ideas helps a lot. ..love the stars. ..Great table runner too... happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  4. I love the stars, and the table runner and.. Great projects using strings.

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  5. I love your table runner, and those stars! Thanks for showing us some clever, smaller projects!

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  6. All amazing work. They are both excellent.

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    1. Thanks, Danice! It was fun working on them and figuring out what to do.

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  7. Your runner is great both sides and your stars have such terrific potential. I really need to make one of those scrap bags for my stuff. It is gorgeous.

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  8. It sounds like you had fun. And these projects are proof. They are wonderful. I so love your table runner. How fun it will be to use that. And your stars are so pretty. I love the stringed centers. This would also be pretty as a table runner. And your pouch will be so fun to use. Thank you for inspiring today. Enjoy the sun if it is out. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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  9. All of your string projects are remarkable works of art.

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  10. Great projects and thanks for the inspiration! I think my strips and scrap containers grow when I’m not around. I found more yesterday when I was organizing my 30s fabric! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  11. What great projects! I am a "bag" lady, so of course would love that one. I made a few blocks years ago with strings in the center of a star block like you did, but they are still sitting in the UFO pile. I like how you added hourglass blocks to your string blocks for the table runner and even used strings on the back. Great idea and I should have done that with my runners, just to use up more strings, but you know those strings keep multiplying anyhow no matter what I do. i may need to pull out my stars with the strings and put it into a runner to just finish it, so thanks for the inspiration (and jogging my memory, lol)!

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  12. Backwards, forwards, inside, out... I'm SEW in LOVE with your projects!!

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  13. I love your string things...each and every one of them. What a fun way to play with leftovers!

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  14. Nice table runner, and I love the quilt block with the string center! Great idea!

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  15. SUCH A NEAT QUILT! THANKS FOR SHARING!

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  16. Seriously, I think my scraps grew by making and doing from the scrap pile! Great projects you've made with yours!

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  17. I really like your projects. The stars will make a great quilt and use up a lot of strings! Thanks for sharing.

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  18. Wow so many gorgeous projects. The stars are awesome, but so is the bag. I love your table runner.

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  19. I love all of your projects!

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  20. You have been a busy little bee!!! Love your string projects!

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  21. You've done great with your strings!

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  22. Great projects! I'd like to find time to do one of each with all the strips I have in my color drawers!

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  23. So many different ways of putting the quilt together.

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  24. Wonderful projects. I especially liked your string stars. Nancy A: rangerer@sbcglobal.net

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  25. All wonderful projects! The two sided table runner is my favorite. The string center stars would make a nice quilt. Cute bag. Thank you fort sharing in the hop ... :) Pat

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  26. Thanks for sharing these great ideas for using strings, I really need to get busy!

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  27. Very clever doing the strings in the middle of the star like that. I really liked all of your projects.

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  28. I love that double-sided runner and the colors look amazing together! Such pretty stars and bag, too...great job with strings. :O)

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  29. You have great projects!! The colors on the double sided runner are awesome!

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  30. some great ideas for use of strings, did you put anything for lining/stabilizer in the bag? I just learned how to do zippers and would love to give one a try.

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  31. Thanks for sharing such great projects. Some really good use of strings.

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  32. Great strings projects! Love the zippy pouch.. may need to make one of them :) xx

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  33. Thanks for all the wonderful string ideas. I love the runner with strings and quarter square units. Great job!

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