Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Gloomy Weather = Bright Quilting

A string of gloomy days starts to wear on my mood. One of the things I love about our Minnesota winters is bright sunshine lighting up fresh snow. Everything just sparkles! But late October and November tend to be grey and rather dreary for days on end.

I've pulled the brightest UFOs in my pile for quilt therapy today...


I love string quilts! I got started by making blocks to donate to Heartstrings Quilt Project several years ago. The blocks for the first top came from an online string block swap. If you've never made string blocks you are missing out on a fun way to use up your scraps. Here's a great tutorial.  

Since the strings are pieced on muslin the completed quilt top already has two layers of fabric, plus the stitching from all the strings, which makes them fairly heavy. I like to use fleece for one step batting & backing, it adds just the right amount of cozy fluff. I could not resist the tropical print for the pink, white & black quilt while shopping last weekend. Nothing like hibiscus blooming on fleece! The bottom top is <<BRIGHT!!!>> so I chose a solid.

I'm planning to play around with decorative stitches on the white strings using hot pink thread. I'd like to find a few that could be used for sewing down binding by machine.

8 comments:

  1. I love your string blocks, the pink is perfect

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  2. These quilts should brighten up the winter.

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  3. I hear you about grey skies - Vancouver is grey and dreary for about nine months of the year! Love your string blocks - very cheery, and I love the tip for using fleece instead of backing and batting.

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  4. If those pretty quilts can not brighten up a grey and gloomy day, nothing can!
    I have used (thick) fleece as backing before, and have recently heard that double-woven fleece makes perfect batting because it holds up to regular laundering very well. Going to give the fleece-as-batting a try with the next cat quilt, to check how it holds up.

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  5. I love the idea of bright-colored strings. Yours look great!

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  6. I love me a stringy quilt too! Happy stitching ; ) I'm your newest follower.

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  7. The pictures just say "bright and happy," so perfect for changing the mood of gloomy days. I am partial to the pink...guess I'm just a romantic at heart : ) Great piecing....I want to do a scrappy string quilt one of these days and am hoping eventually my leftovers from other quilts will help in that regard. Gee, until then, just have to make more quilts!

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