In an effort to use more of the stash in 2016, I'm participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016. I'm using a ton of 1930s 1.25" strips which I purchased off eBay over ten years ago. I remember vividly that we were building our house when I bought ten pint size bags stuffed with 1930s strips. They represent a tiny drop in the amount of fabric I bought that year due to stress. These fabrics could potentially be 20-30 years old depending on how long the person before me had them; I've no way of really knowing.
January's blocks are blue, and there is lots of variety among the strips which is perfect for a string quilt. My goal is to not use the same fabric twice in a block. I'll end up with a rainbow of blocks by year's end, and I'll probably make transition blocks that are half of two colors to blend the movement between colors in the quilt. I'm envisioning a barn raising pattern at this point. I'm using 10" foundation paper with a thin layer of glue stick to hold the middle string in place, leftovers from this custom Thimbleberries string quilt I made in 2013.
I'm aiming for a large bed quilt 95" square for my bed. We turned off the heater on our waterbed last spring and didn't notice a difference until this fall/winter when we've found we need more blankets than ever before. The current count is 5, so I should use wool batting in this quilt!
After making 7 blocks this afternoon, I realize the bags of strips will make far more blocks than I need for my quilt. I'm even wondering if I could make the whole bed quilt from blue alone since the 7 blocks didn't make a dent in the blue pile! I'll make as many as I have time for each month and make a second {or third or fourth} quilt with the extra blocks.
I'm hosting Thanks Goodness It's Finished Friday this week! Stop back by on Friday to share your finishes!
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15 comments :
Wow. That block is already beautiful. It's going to be a long wait for the final quilt.
Your 30's strings are absolutely wonderful. Have fun making DOZENS of quilts out of that stash!! LOL
Those bags of scraps have some pretty colors in them. Gonna make a nice quilt!
Wonderful bags of scraps! My eyes are green with envy. :)
What wonderful blues! I love 30s fabrics (OK, I love all fabrics!) so this quilt will be beautiful not matter what you decide colorwise. You could use up big scraps on the back maybe and make a bigger dent? Anyway, good start!
Beautiful fabrics. So glad that you are using them! What a pretty block.
ambitious project, this will surely keep you busy and out of trouble :) Stay warm!
Beautiful block! I love blue and I love string blocks. You go girl!
Quilting from the stash really seems to be the theme of 2016.
Your string blocks are lovely. Could you make a different coloured string quilt? Then you could change up your bed quilts on a whim each time you feel like changing up the colours - maybe one for each month!?
Sounds like fun!
Looks like it's going to be a very cheerful and cozy quilt. Maybe you could make multiple quilts following this theme, or make multiple blocks so you can play around with the layout a bit. So many scraps!
I love your string blocks! How big are they? If you get tired of making one-color blocks, you could make multi-colored ones, which would use up a bunch of those strips and make a totally different kind of quilt.
I didn't work on blues...sigh....
I mean the past 2 weeks. Now I have 4 patches waiting to be squared up.
I wonder what February's color will be.
Beautiful block! Those blue fabrics are all fun. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the rainbow in this block.
Beautiful blocks. And I love seeing a basket with plastic bags full of scraps. I really get lucky of it. Thank you.
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