Thursday, September 14, 2017

Rainbow Strings

I have another finish to share this week, though this quilt was completed a few weeks ago. What with other activities and preoccupation with Hurricane Irma, the timing just wasn't right for posting about it.
Rainbow Strings, 64" X 80"

This Rainbow Strings quilt (for want of a clever name), is one of those "free" quilts that I put together with strips that have been saved in a plastic container over a long period of time. It's also made with a technique I really like - fabric strips sewn to a foundation paper of telephone book pages. What better way to use up an unused telephone book?! Just fill half of a 8-1/2" X 8-1/2" telephone book page with random-width strips of a single color, and fill the other half with white prints.

If you'd like to make a quilt like this go here to download my free "Stringing Colors" instructions. I wrote these directions in 2009 to make quilts for Australia bush fire relief, and it remains a good go-to design for any charity or donation quilt. 

That's what very likely will become of this quilt.

Rainbow Strings is made with request loft Quilter's Dream 100 percent cotton. This design was quilted with Aurifil 50-weight thread.

These loops were quilted with 40-weight YLI orange/yellow variegated thread.

I'm especially happy with the binding.

It was sewn using the method No Tails Binding: Mitered Corners by Machine. You can find my binding tutorial here. If you're a member of the Modern Quilt Guild, you can watch my binding webinar that explains the technique step-by-step. It's here, on the members-only resources page.

It feels good to be knocking out a few finishes, after stuttering to a stop over the summer, due to carpal tunnel syndrome. My wrist bothers me now and again, when I'm spending too much time at one repetitive motion (like hand sewing binding), but overall I think it's better.

I'm caught up on quilting until I get two more tops basted! When you're a quilter, the fun just never ends! Linda

6 comments:

  1. Glad to hear your wrist is better, at least most of the time. Two gorgeous finishes in the past couple days! I'm planning to try string blocks on used dryer sheets and see how that works out - no removing all those papers afterwards sounds good to me. I tried a small block and quilted and bound it then ran it through the wash. It came out very well with no lingering dryer-sheet odor, so that may become my go-to method for smaller string blocks.

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  2. What better way to celebrate the healing wrist and the departure of Irma than with a finish! It's wonderful Linda! I still have very vivid memories of those 2009 bushfires and the effect it had on nearby communities. Here's to continuing healing all round!

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  3. I like that binding too 😊

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  4. I just love this quilt Linda, so colorful and happy!!!

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  5. Free quilts are always a great thing and that one is beautiful.

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  6. (Catching up on emails and reading...)
    So glad to hear that you are in a finishing place, given all the medical issues that sidelined you for a while. (I noticed that Susan S. has also been on a tear, given that she's better now, too!) Your closing line resonates so forcefully with me. While traveling, I thought "you said you'd retired and you still have tasks hanging over your head!" But if they were lovely tasks like these, that's a great thing! Beautiful quilt, and I love that you shared your methods. We don't even get phone books anymore! so I'd have to find something else to use--paper from doctor's exam tables (I know you can buy it somewhere).

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