Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Quilting and Daydreaming

I've been slowly quilting Happy Birds this week -


I say slowly because it's a pretty good sized quilt (for me) and those long lines of stitching take awhile to complete.  But I'm plugging away, and it's moving along!


This quilt is my first time using minky for the backing.  It is so soft and I knew my husband would love it, if I could successfully quilt with it.

So far, so good!

As I quilt along, I daydream about what I'd like to be trying, and finally took a break the other day to do some string piecing.  I'd been wanting to try a rectangular block, using phone book pages as the foundations, so that's what I decided to play with.


After about an hour, just playing with my red scraps, I ended up with these - 


The individual string blocks are trimmed to 6.5 x 9.5 inches, and my plan is to always have a dark string running through the middle, so that every set of four blocks creates a diamond shape.  Four of these together should make a nice big finished block - 12.5 x 18.5.  Of the four in the photo, I like the top two best because of the contrast, so I'll have to make some more of those!

Looks like these will become a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for 2019 - something to work on throughout the year!

Wishing all of you a happy and safe New Year, filled with all your favorite things!



Sharing at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!







18 comments:

Libby in TN said...

Look at you, quilting with Minky! Your stitching looks great and the back is behaving.

Quilter Kathy said...

Such a terrific RSC project for next year... love the first 4 blocks!
I've never quilted with minky... it is soft, but I was worried about it being uncooperative.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

good luck with the minky I have heard mixed reports on using it - glad yours is working out so far!! I have never used it.

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

Nice quilting especially with Minky. I like the idea of rectangular string blocks. Very pretty.

The Joyful Quilter said...

Glad to hear the minky quilting is going well! I've never tried it, but have a quilt in line. I like the way you are making your String blocks! My blocks don't normally have the symmetry that yours do. I like the way it looks.

Tanya Quilts in CO said...

The soft, luxurious minky is worth the extra work. I absolutely LOVE your string blocks. Happy New Year!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Loving your string blocks!

chrisknits said...

I love your String Blocks!! And I don't even like String Blocks. Can't wait to see what you come up with for the colors each month.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

I am thinking about adding some string blocks to my 2019 RSC blocks too. I miss making them! Thanks for sharing yours with Oh Scrap!

You could make light blocks with a dark center and dark with a light center. Just in case you need enabling :)

MissPat said...

I started some string blocks for RSC two years ago, then got distracted. I should probably pull them out this year and at least add a few more each month. Too many ideas, not enough time, even though I'm retired. How does that happen?
Pat

Cathy said...

Strings seem to be the scraps to work on in 2019! You're off to a good start.

I daydream when I quilt too. Gosh, I daydream all day! I've never tried minky as a backing. I've always been afraid my machine won't like it. The darned thing is so picky. One of these days...

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

Great quilting and have you seen that Moda has a string block QAL going on. Oh your string blocks are gorgeous.

Vicki in MN said...

Your string blocks are looking great. I think I never finished the quilt the grandson and I worked on over a year ago. Maybe that will be on the mental list of 'to do' this year. I too daydream of other projects as I work on the current one. Happy New Year!

JanineMarie said...

Love your rectangular strings. That will make a fun RSC project!

LA Paylor said...

that is going to be dynamic

Kate said...

Love your RSC project for 2019! That's going to make a very graphic design when you get them all done. Hope you had a great New Year!

Louise said...

Oh! I'm working on something very similar! There must be something in the air inspiring us to make these rectangular string blocks. I love the reds and creams in yours :)

Cathy said...

There is a rectangular string block in Diane Knott’s new book (Strip Quilt Secrets) that’s on my list of string quilts to make this year. The stars have really aligned themselves for string blocks this year, haven’t they? I LOVE your blocks, both the light and dark versions.