Very First String Blocks

[Jennalyn]

Afternoon! I've admired scrappy string quilts for a long time but never tried my hand at one. I saved my strings, though - anything less than 2" went into a separate bin for "someday". My mom recently found an old phonebook when she was tidying my Nanna's house and brought it home after remembering that I was looking for one.

I whipped all of these blocks out last Sunday. When I next feel inspired to work on it, I think I'm going to add a large inner border, another border of additional string blocks, and then one more outer border. I'm looking forward to watching it grow! There are plenty more strings where these came from. The blocks are all 7" finished because that's the size the pages trimmed most easily.

(There are a lot of Celtic Solstice scraps in here too!)

[turena65]

Re: Very First String Blocks

Those are wonderful! What a great idea for using your scraps... I can't wait to see it finished!

[rarerosered]

Re: Very First String Blocks

Awesome, I too am saving scraps for this. Looks great. Lynn

[Eliza]

Re: Very First String Blocks

So bright and cheery - I love it!

[dwil23]

Re: Very First String Blocks

I can't wait to do one of these - I love to look at all the different fabrics. You did a great job! The white in the center position really sets the whole block off.

[Hulamoon]

Re: Very First String Blocks

It's beautiful! On my list too.

[Cathy F]

Re: Very First String Blocks

Love it, bright cheerful colors!

[auntiemern]

Re: Very First String Blocks

I love this...on my to do list. Yours looks great.

[easyquilts]

Re: Very First String Blocks

Definitely on my list! Did you cut the phone book pages to a particular size? This is something I've always wanted to do, because I love the look... I have a bin gull of scraps that might work... You have inspired me to do a string block or two... Maybe a whole quilt!

[Jennalyn]

Re: Very First String Blocks

Definitely on my list! Did you cut the phone book pages to a particular size? This is something I've always wanted to do, because I love the look... I have a bin gull of scraps that might work... You have inspired me to do a string block or two... Maybe a whole quilt!

I found the largest square that I could consistently cut out of my pages was 7.5" - a little odd-sized when compared to traditional quilt blocks, but it doesn't really matter if they're all that size.

You'll have a lot of fun with them! The string blocks are so forgiving of imperfection and imprecision. I used these blocks as an opportunity to learn treadling. Let's just say that a lot of those lines only bear a passing resemblance to 'straight'.

[Quiltfreestyle]

Re: Very First String Blocks

That's the beauty of string quilts, if seams aren't straight it looks like you intended it that way lol
I really like yours!! It's fun to remember the quilts that these left overs came from too..
Great job

[JCY]

Re: Very First String Blocks

A great way to use up the phone book. I bought M*QC pkg. of foundation papers, which are 10". Unlike Jenny, I don't trim based on the edges of the paper; I measure the 10" square with my ruler so the blocks all are the same size. Mostly I've been using up 2.5" wide strips left over from quilt bindings. JCY

[ilive2craft2]

Re: Very First String Blocks

They look great - I really want to try some of these!

[SandyWhite]

Re: Very First String Blocks

Really love this. So colorful.