One Monthly Goal for July Met!

The center of the project

My one monthly goal for July was to complete the string piecing for my challenge quilt.  I decided to piece the widest string sections first. I used newsprint as my paper foundation. I selected the printed strings from Martha's stash. 

I've used her strings from a two gallon plastic bag to piece my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) blocks since January 2021. I've pieced 84 eight inch blocks so far from that bag. In the RSC, I've used the strings that I could categorize as a color. I had lots of strings left that were multi colored so those became the basis of this project. 

Adding the first sashing and cornerstones

I cut the newspaper strips into 22 inch long sections because that was the greatest length that I could cut from my newspaper. I pieced four sections at a time. This month, I Zoomed with three of my small groups. This was a great project to work on because I could visit without being concerned about making a piecing error!

I found it challenging to piece the 6 1/2 inch strips without the strips tilting. Longer strips, while using more fabric, also take more time to cover the base of the paper. I used the majority of the printed strips which was great! I have a few long strips remaining in the bag. (Gertie, my inner squirrel thought I was wise to leave a little "seed stock" behind for a second quilt. . .although she has ideas of altering the pattern a bit. Gertie never ceases with ideas!)

After I finished piecing the widest strip foundations, I pieced the next largest size strip which was the 4 1/2 inch strips. That process went faster. As I stitched the 6 1/2 inch strips, I sorted the colored strips into piles of 4 1/2 inch strips and 3 1/2 inch strips. 

3 1/2 inch string border in place

I used all of the 4 1/2 inch strips and most of the bricks (2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pieces) that I had cut when I initially began using Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System. I cut the bricks into a variety of two widths because varying the string width is more interesting to the eye! 

Again, it was great to use the printed fabrics in this string piecing. No longer are those fabrics stored! I freed a few quart size plastic zip lock bags during this process. After I finished piecing the 4 1/2 inch wide strips, I pieced the 3 1/2 inch wide strips. I still had some scraps left so I made a
pile of 2 1/2 inch strips. I'm thinking that these will become strips of Chinese coins for a future project! 

Light gray border and cornerstones

As I stitched the 3 1/2 inch wide strips, I felt like I had made great use of that two gallon bag of strings! Once I had finished piecing the strings, I thought about posting because I had met my monthly goal of piecing the strings. Gertie, wanted me to keep going. Actually, I was curious how long it would take me to piece the top once I had all the strings pieced and trimmed.

Putting together the nine patch center of the top was a snap. Placing the white sashing and cornerstones was just as easy. Next, I laid out my 3 1/2 inch string border. I pieced it together until I had a strip long enough for each side. I removed the paper, added the corner stones if needed and stitched it to the white border.

Gertie was right! It was fun watching the top grow on the design wall. With each addition, I liked what I saw. I wanted to see what the next round would add to the top! I added the light grey border and cornerstones. I moved on to the 4 1/2 inch wide strip border. I followed the same process as I did adding the 3 1/2 inch wide strip. I was glad that I had left the paper on the strings because it was easier to determine the length needed for the next border.

Dark gray border and cornerstones

Once I had stitched the 4 1/2 inch border into place, I added the dark gray border and cornerstones. So that there would be no seams in this border, I cut the strips the length of the
fabric. I stitched those strips in place and added the cornerstones. 

I moved on to adding the 6 1/2 inch border. At this stage, the top was too large for my design wall. I began to determine the strip length that I needed. By this time, I was ready to call it a day. It was the perfect project to work on during my Sit and Sew Zoom meeting.

The following day, I pieced the 6 1/2 inch strips together and removed the paper. This time, because the outside pieced edge was the outer edge of the top, I stay stitched the edge to prevent the strings from "unsewing" themselves.

Finished top

To photograph the result of the last border, I laid the top on the floor. I do like the results. This project was the perfect way to use those printed fabrics that contain lots of different colors. In fact, many of those add interest to design. I stitched about 3 1/2 yards of strings to make these borders. I have some of the strips left. I'm leaving those as seed stock because I like Gertie's idea to make another of these quilts!

Should you want to make a Scrap Vortex too, you can purchase and download the pattern through Quilting Daily. I shopped my stash and selected the backing fabrics. These have been in my stash a long time. The selvage edge reads 2007 on one of the fabrics! I remember buying it with my friend Gail at a quilt show.

I don't mind piecing a back for a quilt. In fact, it is a good way to use leftovers so those extra bits don't become part of string and chunk storage! Sometimes, I've pieced backs that could have been a front. Even though I was tempted to make two quilts, I didn't. If I were faster at the quilting phase, I might have.

Backing fabrics

I'm glad that Gertie "encouraged" me to keep stitching to see what the top would like. I'm linking to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - July Finish Link-up. This was goal number one on my July list. It was also my OMG! Wahoo. . .I made it!!!

Because I used scraps, I'm also linking to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Do you have an inner squirrel? If you do, would you please comment and let me know how to the two of you work together?

Regarding COVID: 

Worldwide: 197M cases; 4.2M deaths

United States: 35M cases; 613K deaths

Oregon: 220K cases; 2,886 deaths

The Delta variant of COVID continues to infect people worldwide as well as here in the United States. Those unvaccinated are affected most and are filling hospital beds to capacity. In some parts of the world and here in the United States, some restrictions are back in place. I hope that there is not another lock down coming as we have been restricted far too long waiting out this disease.

Some school districts are planning that the students will be maskless in the fall. This week, the Oregon governor released a statement saying that all students and staff will be masked when school starts in September. 

 

Our London daughter is here for visit. We are grateful she was able to travel as it is wonderful to see her in the "flesh!" She plans to visit quite a few friends before she heads back to London in about a month. Yes, she is taking an extended vacation and hanging out with family! How special for us!!