Thursday, February 12, 2015

More scrapping: bee blocks and bibs...

Last year, I participated in Stash Bee.  It was a lot of fun, so I'm doing it again this year.

It's also a great way to use scraps.  Since you're only making one block each month, you don't need very much of any one fabric (depending on the block) and queen bees often request something super scrappy.

This month, Kim (who is expecting a little girl) asked for string blocks made from gold, melon pink, and teal.  She plans to make a quilt to match her new nursery.  I was a little short of melon pink, so I cut one long string from stash, but all the other strings here are scraps:



I still have a lot of strings left, although not very many melon-pink ones!  This block was easy to improv.  I grabbed the strings I had in the appropriate colors, then sorted them by length.  


I had a little bit of trouble figuring out my method for this block, in terms of getting started.  What finally worked was: 

(1) Use tracing paper so that you can see through it.
(2) Draw a diagonal line down the center.
(3) Then draw a line 1/4" and 1/2" on one side of the center line.  
(4) On the side of the paper you *didn't* draw on, lay down your 1" white strip and your first colored strip.  They should line up with the 1/2"-from-center line.  Pin fabrics in place.
(5) Flip over, and sew along the 1/4"-from-center line. 

Once you have those first two strips on, everything can just be gauged off of the edge of the previous strip, so no further line-drawing is necessary.  By having the strings sorted by length, it's easy to grab the right length string as you go.

I did find myself pinning fabric-side-up, then having to flip the block over to re-pin fabric-side-down.  Anything else didn't stay in place well enough.

One note: the tracing paper shrunk noticeably during ironing.  So make sure your strings run a little bit off the edge of the paper in all directions!  That way, when you trim the block to the correct size at the end, you won't be scuppered by the shrinkage.

And... because Kim is having a little girl, I pulled out this scrap-slab that I made a while ago and turned it into a bib.  



I love these patchwork bibs, and they are a favorite way to use scraps!  Only when taking a picture of the bib and blocks together did I notice that they match!  I guess I can be really confident that Kim will like the color-scheme.  :-)


So bee block done in plenty of time!  Now I just have to remember to get it into the mail before everything gets late.  That's always where I fail...

Linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday with Leanne and Nicky:



7 comments:

  1. Beautiful block and cute bib! I tend to use old phone books as they are scrap anyway and easier to tear than photocopy paper. They shrink up too. Same problem as regards posting - glad I'm not the only one! Thanks for joining us at #scraptastictuesday

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  2. I like the phone book idea! I always just find myself putting them straight into the recycling bin these days---they've been superseded by google, but now I know what I *should* be doing with them!

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  3. What a good idea to sort the strings by length. I've made these string blocks before but never done that. I'll remember this tip for next time. Yours are particularly pretty.

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  4. What a wonderful gift! =) I agree that scrappy bibs are wonderful! Your blocks turned out lovely! Thank you also for the tips about your learning process. I have always admired string quilts and have been wondering about the process of them. =) Happy Friday Genevieve!

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