String Progress Continues

I've been having fun with this project ever since I took the string piecing class with Kevin the Quilter. It's a variation of his pattern "Goodnight, Darleen!" made smaller. In my last post about it, I had the center medallion of blocks assembled.

In order to measure the lengths needed for the pieced strips that make up the corners, I put the center medallion on the wall and roughly marked the size needed on the wall with strings. Then I laid the string-pieced strips up to make sure I had the right lengths, and also to make sure I didn't have the same right next to itself.

Some strips are more than long enough; a couple need to be a few inches longer so I can adjust them slightly.

Once measured, I built the corner assemblies and attached them to the center medallion. Then I put the whole thing back up on the wall to figure out the size needed for the corner triangles. I had two 7" squares of green Grunge and I was hoping they would be enough to manage all four corners. Just barely, whoo-hoo! You can see one of the squares folded in half in the corner here, and it'll be just big enough. (Because I'm making my version smaller than the pattern, the size specified in the pattern is larger than I need.)

Before attaching the corners, the whole top needs to be squared up. Using the top/bottom and side blocks of the center medallion and my largest rulers, I marked where to trim the corner assemblies. Measure and mark all four corners, make sure the diagonal for sewing on the green corner triangle measures the same on all four corners; measure the length and width of the quilt; adjust, measure and mark some more; measure again; and finally trim.

The green Grunge corner triangles were just big enough so I could add them and then square up and trim off.

Because of all the bias edges, Kevin recommended stay-stitching all the way around the outside edges of the top. After stitching I put the top back up on the wall to admire it. My version finished at about 53" square.

I auditioned a few fabrics from stash for binding. The fabric I chose is the one on the right in the photo above. For backing I have a light green print in my stash, leftovers and off-cuts from backing something else, that I can cobble together. This bias stripe will go nicely with the backing as well as the front.

If we ever get some nice enough weather to take outdoor pictures, I'll get a better photo of the flimsy. meanwhile, I'll put this away to focus on other projects for awhile. I'll quilt this one myself, but there are other projects in the to-be-quilted queue first.

Although I still don't consider string piecing my thing, it's definitely another skill and design element I can add to my arsenal. Thanks, Kevin, for gently pushing me out of my comfort zone!


Link Ups:
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Em's Scrapbag
Love Laugh Quilt