String Quilt

I redid my Power of Ten list (in the sidebar) last week and resolved to make it work better for me than it did last year. I got the idea from my good friend Barb, and I dutifully made up my list but it never really got off the ground. The original idea was to choose ten quilts and work on each one in succession for only three hours, but I may or may not have a chance to work on the quilts every day.

The first quilt in my rotation is the Double Hourglass. I blogged about this one not too long ago, and all I've done since then is get it loaded on the frame. It won't actually come up in the rotation again for a little while, but I'd like to try and start quilting it on Sunday. I don't like to have a quilt on the frame for too long.

This string quilt is the second quilt in the rotation. It's called "Loose Change", and my son saw it in a book called String Quilts With Style by Bobbie Aug. He loves the pattern, so I'm making it for him. It started out as a leaders and enders project, but I was having such a good time with it that I wanted to spend more time on it, so I added it to the list.

Not only is this quilt a great way to use up a bunch of scraps, but I don't have to struggle with fabrics and colors. I can just pick up a scrap of fabric and sew it on. I keep the scraps I'm using for this project in a shallow plastic bin so they're easily accessible. As the scraps get used, I replenish the bin with bits and pieces from other projects, from friends, and from my regular scrap bins; so there is an ever changing variety.

The blocks are pieced on a foundation that is cut 4" x 8". I'm going to sew them together just as they are in the photo from the book, with a burgundy batik in between the string pieced blocks. The original quilt called for 90 blocks, but I'll need 144 blocks for my queen sized quilt. I have a stack of about 80 done now. Got a ways to go.