This past week was chock full of fabric store stuff. Our new JoAnn's had their Grand Opening last Thursday, Friday and Saturday and were giving away 100 gift cards each morning. So, of course, I had to go stand in line to get one. Unfortunately I didn't get one of the $250 cards, but I did get three (one each morning) ten dollar cards. ($30 to spend on anything in JoAnn's - free!) On Saturday, I did the usual, get there early, sit in my car and read - count how many people are in line - read, finally with about 35 in line and more people getting out of their cars, I get out and go stand with everyone else. I don't think 100 people showed up to stand in line any of the mornings. Anyway, on Saturday, I spent my gift cards and then headed to Andrews where the Sewing Cottage was having their newly re-modeled (kept typing re-molded - couldn't figure out how to spell, there for a second LOL) sale. I found some goodies I couldn't pass up and then I got, in my bag, an added bonus. A cute little hand made bag - think small - with some goodies inside. There were two pieces of chocolate - they are sitting on my nightstand since Saturday night when I remembered the clerk telling me not to let them melt and I went out to the car to retrieve them - they were melted, but now have hardened again and are ready for me to eat. (rambling much?) Anyway - there was also a pattern with an interesting border, may have to try it and then - - - several pieces of fabric. Cute, fun zoo fabric. Hippos, zebras, lions, giraffes, etc. This fabric is a good size chunks, but none of it is the same size. These are really cute, but what can I do with them? I unfold them and stack them leaving about 1 1/2 inch strip showing of the fabric underneath wondering how they would all look together and I think!!! strips!! What else? LOL That is where my brain is right now. So, tonight I cut them into strings - no specific width on these strips - and then I start rummaging in the rest of my stash. I had at first thought I would add some pinks and yellows/golds with the fabrics. (pink hippo noses, mouths and ears) However, when I began cutting, the color gray kept showing up. In almost every fabric. So, the gray drawer comes down, I pull a few grays out to cut into strings and in there I find some pre-cut strips. These fabrics are old - at least 30 years old. They use to belong to my mother, but I took them - many years ago - (actually she gave them to me when I began making quilts 20+ years ago. They were strips she had previously cut for a quilt class she took with Sharon Newman or a quilt she wanted to make after the Sharon Newman class?) Well, I ended up with them and didn't think I would ever use them. I couldn't throw them out so they have been loitering in the gray fabric box for a really, really long time. Now they are the center stripe on this string piecing quilt I am making. Along with the grays, I added some black and white from the black and white blocks I just finished - didn't put the fabric back in the drawer so it got used - some blues from the other block I made - the tub of blues and greens was still sitting out - and of course had to pull in some of those greens. Now, it's no longer a pink and gold dominate quilt, but a blue/gray/green dominate quilt. This one will definitely be for a little boy someday. Below, I have pieced four blocks - cut up an old phone book for the paper backing - and have sewn those four blocks together. Since these squares are 6 1/2" squares I will try to make this a 5 X 6 setting and add a border of some kind. I really like the way it is looking just from these four squares. I can't wait until tomorrow night to add the next four blocks in an X style to see the pattern emerge a bit more.
I love the hippo noses and the lion eyes. It's all so fun and cartoonish. Even though the center strips are all the same size, I am not being precise on the middle placement of them. My thought on this is, "as long as it covers the center points on the paper, I am good with it" so you can tell that the gray strips don't match up 100%. However, it's close enough that it moves the eye around the block an will create movement in the quilt. Okay, yet another strip/string project for me. Has any of this inspired you to start a strip/string project yet? If so, I would love to see what you are working on.
