Pink Strings--post five

The pink scrap bag

Gertie, my inner squirrel, is happily chortling and prancing about the studio after receiving your kind comments after our last post. She has been pushing me to begin working with the pink strings. Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month. I prepared the newsprint foundation papers and began. Again, I pieced the pink centers first.

Piecing the pink strings progress

Piecing the centers first means I can put the pink away once I'm finished. Working with the black and gray scraps still makes a mess; but, it is more controlled. . .as if it is possible to control a mess!

Leftovers uncovered from a previous project

Approaching the end of piecing the blocks, I uncovered left over string parts in the bag. I almost returned them to the bag. Gertie, my inner squirrel, convinced me to stitch them into bigger parts. I plan to add borders and move the small triangles to the sides of the body. Perhaps, it will become a placemat or a a small wall hanging. I will admit I had fun channeling Chantal (At the Corner of Scraps and Quilts) for her ability to reduce a scrap bag and Diann (Little Penguin Quilts) who turns the bits into mug rugs, table and placemats! 

Auditioning bigger parts

Gertie is thinking it might be fun for me to add some embroidery so it could become a "special" placemat. She thinks Happy Day should be the words. I see her point. Birthdays, an anniversary, Valentine's Day. . .hmm. . .I really don't need another project! For now, it can marinate!

Pink string bag after piecing blocks

After I had pieced the centers, I took a photo of the pink string bag. There are still a lot of strings; but, less than before!

Gray and black string process

I moved on to adding the gray and black corners. I will need to cut more gray and black strings to piece the May blocks!

Pink string diamonds

Sewing the rectangles together is the reveal. I continue to smile at how interesting each color is when the rectangles are stitched into the diamond shape.

The two "blocks"

Beginning with the pink, I sewed four diamonds together to make the block. It was a little tricky to match the constant fabric. I decided to match the constant fabric and let the seams fall where they would. Working with these giant blocks will make piecing the top faster! The giant block finishes at 24 by 16 inches. This could be a bigger quilt than I was anticipating!

All the blocks 

After stitching four diamonds together to create a block, I added the blocks to the wall. I like what I see. Soon, I'll be out of wall space! Sewing the pink string blocks was goal number four on my April list.