This Part is Finished by Friday

The first Friday of  September has sort of jumped in front of me here. Should I blame the Holiday week?  Trash pick-up schedule change? My new self- imposed sleep schedule? All of the above? Yes. All.

 OK, it is now Friday. Sewing frantically to get all the blocks done..... Ta, Da!

 I just realized some of these photo's are repeats, sorry. For placement purposes I finger-press each end of the base strip, this assures the proper angle placement. On one block I thought I could power through and skip that step. Didn't work out, so back to the beginning. I match that little finger pinch mark with the point on the paper square, keeps everything on the straight line starting out.

start with a strip placed corner-to-corner on the paper background. I chose this off-white rather than black because I had a lot more of it!

no bias issues with newspaper

 

the stitch and flip method (it doesn't look this bad in real life, please trust me!)

Among the Sew and Sew Group string quilts are popping up here and there. I made one in the early '90's out of some weird fabric. I kept a sewing machine at our cottage in those days. On Friday night when we would arrive up there I felt like I was greeting an old friend, the cottage, the lake, the sewing machine. I made the first string quilt on my still trusty Husquvarna-Viking 990 that lived at the lake.  I used a  muslin foundation for that  one. I believe I left that quilt in the cottage when it was sold. Don't even get me started on that  huge mistake! Selling the cottage, not leaving the quilt behind:)  The 990 is still going strong, now my favorite take-to-class machine.

here is the square, strips running off the paper backing, pre-trim

For this one I decided to try a newspaper foundation. Cut 10 1/2 inches square, an interesting choice. In theory, it performed well. Most importantly the newspaper has the distinct advantage of not having a bias grain to deal with while stitching down all those strips! I used a 2.0 stitch length and a Moda Jelly Roll that has been hanging around too long. I am trying to reduce the stash.

the back of the square after the trim

 7 blocks done on Saturday night, it was really late, I had to stop! I was compromising my new sleep schedule.

 The detritus of piecing the string/strip quilt blocks. I use this former plant container to collect all those little itty-bitty pieces. Otherwise it would be absolutely everywhere! The left over strips will be border? bindings? backing?

Sixteen 10 1/2 inch blocks completed. Mmmm, I have just noticed that number 16 is missing from this photo! I think it is under the scraps:))))  I have these arranged on my cutting table, please remember that I used my temporary design wall (the microfleece) for batting on the Dogwood Quilt. I have to come up with a remedy for that.
OK, so this next week I will assemble these blocks, put the sashing on, have some different ideas there, and layer this baby up! This Sewist needs deadlines, yes she does!!!