This latest quilt began as an idea for a long term project, but soon spiraled out of control and I found I couldn't stop making blocks! Good intentions! I don't know what made me think I could make a block or two here and there. In the end it doesn't really matter since I ended up with a fun and pretty lovely quilt in the end. As for the woven stripe stash, let's just say there will be another quilt or two in the future!
This photo almost looks like its computer generated! I promise it is not! I've sewn together all the blocks and sashing thus far, but plan on adding a border. When it will get quilted is another story. Maybe that should be my long term goal since I always seem to let these quilts sit for weeks on end until I quilt them!
I had a lot of the stripes already cut in strips in my stash, but there was more work to do. Cut more! If you've ever worked with Kaffe Fasset woven stripes you know they can go wonky just by looking at them! I always starch before cutting and hope for the best. I doesn't take much for this fabric to become distorted no matter how much starch you use.
My plan was to use a foundation of paper in an effort to keep the stripes as straight as possible. I found some newspaper print in the basement that was originally packing paper that I ironed flat, cut to the size I wanted and marked with guide lines in pencil. Drawing the lines ended up being a big waste of time for the most part. I could have saved myself time by drawing one line to work from as I really didn't use the other lines at all. It was all for the greater good of keeping things straight.
My strip width varied from 2 1/4" to 1" for the sake of variety. After I stitched the first two strips on to the paper using the center marked line, I could make my way across the block by adding the remaining strips which turned out to be a pretty quick process. I did have to fold the foundation paper back and trim much of the time, but I found my rhythm and couldn't seem to stop.
After making a stack of blocks, I would neatly trim each one to 7". I used the 45° line on my cutting mat in order to keep the diagonal the same on each block. Again, once I found the rhythm of cutting it went fast.
Something I don't often do with my quilts is add sashing. This was destined to be a quilt that required it in order to bring it all together. I auditioned several color options, but ended up using my go to accent color for woven stripes...Kona Chocolate. It always seems to be the perfect compliment to the colors of the stripes. Plus it feels 'comfortable' to me.
The sashing is 1 1/4" finished, with a different color setting square in the center of each one. A little added pizzazz! The blocks are pretty gorgeous I think!
Even though this is a random scrappy quilt, I still laid out the blocks before sewing could begin. I wanted to be in control until the very end scrappy or not!
As it stands it's all pieced. But I think I'll add a border for containment sake! It'll be a big surprise in the end!
With all the starch prep, there was still a lot of stretch with the stripes. I hope when it's time to quilt it that it won't be an issue. I see lots and lots of pins in my future!
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