Free Table Runner Project

I had this pattern bookmarked thinking it was something I could work on with my granddaughter over spring break.

It’s a free project from the Thermoweb blog. The pattern download is here. I did have to enter my email address to get the free download.

It turns out the grandkids are off to Colonial Williamsburg this week, so I will keep this in mind for summer. I bought Kathryn a Featherweight machine for Christmas a couple of years ago, but there hasn’t been any opportunities for us to sit down together and sew on it. Now that I am retired, I hope we can spend some time working on projects together. 

String Star Tutoral, Part 2

I'm happy to say I completed 5 blocks in less than an hour last night. The construction is pretty mindless once all the background squares are marked and ready to go, and while I'm not always into mindless sewing, it's pretty therapeutic after a long day at work. 

Here are the instructions for how I added the strings to the background squares:

Lay the first strip against one of the drawn lines, right sides together. Note the white line is not the stitching line, it's just a guide for placement of the strip. The stitching will be 1/4" from that edge. Remember the 3-1/4" measurement? The reason I added the quarter inch was to accommodate the seam allowance. The sewn strip will actually be 3" from the corner.  I pinned the strip down so it wouldn't shift under the presser foot.

Once the stitching is completed, iron the strip open:

One thing to remember: don't skimp on the pressing. The strips need to be very flat before the next one is added.

Do the same thing on the other drawn line:

Right sides together, and placed just inside the white line. Then add the next strip to the outside of the previous one:



I drew a pink line of the last picture to show which edge to stitch. After stitching, open the strip out, and press it. Keep adding strips until the black on the sides is completely covered.



At this point, I didn't try to trim them to the correct size, but I did some rough trimming (about 1/4" outside the black square) just to reduce the bulk.

I'm really pleased with the way they are turning out and can't wait to get some more done!

Stay tuned for more progress. By the way, it you try this tutorial, leave me a comment and let me know how it worked out for you. Feedback is good! I'd love to see pictures of your blocks and will post them here if you want to email them to me.

String Star Tutorial

I have this picture pinned to my Pinterest board, and there's something so attractive about it, I must have looked at it dozens of times.

Photo from:

http://magnoliabayquilts.blogspot.com/2012/06/this-and-that.html

I have tried to find tutorials for the blocks, but all the pictures I have pinned take me to a site or blog that references a book called "String Quilt Revival".  I'm sure it's a wonderful book, but I really can't convince myself to buy it yet. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I can figure this out myself. I'll post the steps so (1) I have something to refer back to if it becomes a UFO (not that unlikely), and (2) so anyone else who wants to make their own won't have to figure it out for themselves.

I did find a Nancy Zieman tutorial where she cut kite shapes from her solid fabric and added strings to the sides, but I think it would be easier to cut solid squares and just mark where to start adding string strips. So, what size squares? I decided to cut them 8", mainly because I figured removing the selvedges from my solid fabric would leave me about 40" of usable fabric, and 8 goes into 40 exactly five times. Four of the 8" blocks sewn together to make the star pattern will give you a block that finishes at 15", so again, another easy measurement to work with.

Step 1 would be to cut 8" strips from whatever fabric you are using for the background. Mine is black:

Then remove the selvedges and subcut into 8" squares.

Using a white chalk pencil, I marked one corner of each square 1/4" from each side:

Turn the square to the opposite corner and mark the two sides 3-1/4" down from the corner. This is one of those times when a picture is worth a thousand words. Hopefully the white chalk marks show up in the pictures:

Once you have four marks connect them by using your ruler to make straight lines as shown in the next picture.

This is all a little time-consuming with the marking, but my reasoning is that once I take the time up front to get the squares made, I can sit down and just sew, sew, sew.

That's probably enough for now; check back in a few days, and I should have something posted on how to add the strings.

Update: I was asked how I chose the measurements for marking the blocks. The 1/4" in the first corner is so the strips will overlap, and you won't lose those nice, sharp points when joining the squares together. The 3-1/4" measurement was just a nice, middle-of-the-road choice that is entirely up the maker. If you want star points that are skinnier or fatter, you could decrease or increase that measurement. You may want to try a few variations to see what is most pleasing to you.





How About Pink?

I found some Kona pink in my stash and cut triangles for the string blocks. I cut 3" squares and cut them diagonally into triangles.  I should have cut 4" squares; my triangles were a little too small. I decided to go ahead and use them, and just trim the blocks down a little. 

The finished blocks will be 3.5". I can pull the papers off when I'm watching TV. Pretty soon I'll need to put these aside and get back to my "finish-it-up" list. 

String Geese - Adding the Side Triangles

I have over 60 geese made--time to add some side triangles. Do you remember the original vintage quilt? It had peach-colored side triangles and I wanted that same look. Unfortunately, the peach color I have is pretty anemic looking. :(

I have probably over three yards of it, it's not likely I'll use it for anything else, and the whole purpose of this is to use up some of the leftovers that are just taking up space.

The first thing is to trim the geese even with the foundation papers.

Untrimmed



Lay your ruler along the side even with the paper and trim.

 Here's one that's been trimmed on all three sides:

You can remove the paper foundations after trimming the geese, but I prefer to leave mine on until the side triangles are added. It gives more stability to all those strings which are now cut on the bias. The papers are a little tougher to remove after adding the sides, but it's worth it to me to have the stability of the paper when sewing.



I used my Easy Angle ruler to cut the side triangles, but if you don't have one you can cut 4-7/8" squares and cut them on one diagonal to get two right triangles. With the Easy Angle, I cut several 4.5" strips, stacked them, and used the ruler to cut my triangles.  

First, remove the selvege edge!

Sew a triangle to one side and press away from the string center.

Now add the other triangle:

This is what they will look like once they are sewn together:

I'm really noticing how beige my peach looks.........I think it will just have to do since I already have it on hand (and I've already cut a bunch of 4/5" triangles from it).

String Geese Update

I counted the completed "geese" and there are 20 done. Pretty good considering I didn't spend very much time at the sewing machine all week. I am setting a goal for tonight to get 20 more finished while I watch Downton Abbey. When I get to 54 I'll be at the halfway point! Maybe I need a Downton Abbey marathon.... 

What I'm Working On

I'm string piecing flying geese. What a great way to use up some small strips of fabric! Bonnie Hunter posted a pic on her blog of a fabulous vintage quilt here earlier last month, and I just loved it so much I couldn't get it out of my mind. String piecing is the perfect "mindless sewing" project for the hectic holidays, and I for sure have plenty of small pieces that need to be used, so why not??

The problem with seeing the picture on someone's blog is that I didn't have any idea what size the geese needed to be, so I decided to just wing it and make my geese 4" tall and 8" wide. That way it wouldn't take so many to make a reasonable size strippy quilt like the one in Bonnie's picture. You could cut squares to sew the strings to and then cut each square into four triangles, but I want to be able to use the shorter strips that keep left behind on other string piecing projects.

Here's a tutorial on how I am making mine: For the foundations you can use just about any paper or lightweight fabric like muslin. I like the advertising inserts from the Sunday newspapers. The slick shiny ones. They hold up to the small stitches and are pretty easy to tear loose. Whatever you use, cut it into squares 1-1/4" larger than you want the width of the geese. Since I wanted 8" wide geese, I cut my papers 9-1/4 x 9-1/4".

Then slice the squares from corner to corner to create four equal triangles.

Select a string and lay in right side up on the middle of the triangle. I pin the first string to keep it from slipping.

Add another string face down on top of the pinned one aligning the edge.

Shorten your stitch length a little (I use 1.8) and sew a scant quarter inch seam down the aligned edge.

Now open the strip so that both are right side up and press the seam. Here's what mine looks like after pressing.

Continue adding stips by aligning a new piece with the outstide edge of the last one added.

Here are some finished geese--not trimmed yet. See how great these are for using up short stips of fabric?

I generally don't trim mine until I have sewn all the geese, but I just flip the piece over so that the paper is showing, line up the ruler edge with the edge of the paper foundation, and trim the excess off with the rotary cutter. The seam allowances were already figured into the size of the foundation, so they don't need to be added when trimming.

If I use six rows of geese like the original quilt maker did, with three inch sashings in between strips and five inches for the borders, my quilt will be 73" wide. If I use 18 geese per stip, my quilt will be 82" long. (18 x 4" + two 5" borders) Six rows of 18 flying geese means I need 108 string pieced geese. That is why I opted to make mine 4" x 8", bigger geese means less needed for a quilt top.



Stay tuned for more--once I can find the right color solids to complete the flying geese and add the solid stips, I'll write a post about that step.