Blog Fodder: Strip or String Quilts & a Giveaway

Welcome to this week's Linky Party! 

The theme this week is Strip or String Quilts. According to the Creative Glossary, a strip or string quilt is ‘a kind of patchwork quilt that contains several material strips that are haphazardly sewn together into strip sets. These are then cut into different kinds of shapes and then joined with other shapes to create the top of the quilt.’

Please enter your name and a link to your blog or a picture in Flickr. Link up to your quilts (you may enter more than once) using Mr Linky below and do visit as many of the other links as you can.  You will get some great ideas and may even find new followers and/or blogs to follow.

At the end of each month, all linky entries for that month will be tallied and one lucky winner will receive a charm pack of 20 (5") scrappy squares!  The monthly giveaway is open to residents within and outside the United States.

To win the giveaway, you must

1.            Enter a link to your quilt below.

2.            Be a member of this blog.

3.            Leave a comment.

Be sure to check back each week to participate in a different quilt theme.

Greek Key Log Cabin Quilt - Tutorial

This design is also known as a Spiral Log Cabin.

This wall quilt is 20 inches square

Selecting fabrics for a quilt is the first and one of the most enjoyable steps in designing and making a quilt.  All fabrics were fat quarters that were picked from an existing stash.

Dots, checks and stripes

Using my colored drawing, I picked the focus fabric.  Because this focus fabric would have to serve as the last log, (22" long) and because fat quarters are cut 18" by 22" long, I decided to cut the strips 2" wide and also folded each fat quarter in half along the 22" edge, prior to cutting.

Colored drawing

I then created a strawman for the sewing sequence and penciled in the color replacements at the bottom of the drawing, along with the cutting measurements for each log.  I next calculated the number of strips I would need from each fabric and wrote that at the top of the strawman.

Strawman of sewing sequence

Strips were cut 2" wide for a finished size of 1-1/2" logs.

2" wide strips

Following the sewing sequence on the strawman, the first two logs at the center of the block were sewn together, the length trimmed to equal the width and pressed away from the center (checked fabric in this case) of the block.

1st 4 logs are sewn

Instead of cutting each log to the required length, the strip method of sewing the logs together saved a lot of time.  The new strip is placed right side up, the sewn block placed on the strip face down on it (making sure the new log is sewn on the correct edge).  This strip piecing method saves a great deal of time if several log cabin blocks have to be made.

Sewn block is placed on strip

What I noticed was that, beginning with the 5th log, the log that comprised the same fabric as the new strip always appeared in the top right hand corner.

Block placement

To avoid skewing the block, the strip is placed a tiny bit above the block.  The sewn block is then squared up by cutting away the excess at the top and bottom of the block.

Cut excess fabric at top of sewn block

Cut excess fabric at bottom of sewn block

All sewn seams are pressed away from the center of the block.

Press all seams towards newest log

The rhythm therefore is to sew, trim and press.  With the quilt top done, it was time to decide on the binding fabric.  Because the block is so graphic and angular, I decided on a floral fabric for the binding.

Floral binding fabric

The quilt top was layered with batting and backing fabric and pinned in place. The batting and backing fabric were then cut 1/2" larger than the quilt top, so that the binding finished at 3/4".

Quilt top layered and pinned

The top was quilted in the ditch (within the seams), the binding was sewn on and the quilt was done!

Quilted and bound 

Here is the back of the quilt.

Back of quilt

The quilt can be used as a table topper or as a wall hanging.

Table topper

I hope you enjoy making this log cabin quilt as much as I did.

Cheers!

Greek Key Log Cabin Quilt - Design Phase

The quilting bug is biting really hard this week, so I'm back in business! Two challenges caught my eye and, as usual, I will be entering both challenges using one quilt.  Don't ask me why, but the Greek Key design has been floating around as my inspiration.

  

Desi Quilters' October challenge stipulates:

1. Make a STRIP QUILTED item of any size
2. Creativity counts
3. Post your entry in this doc as well as the challenge album.
(The first person to finish the challenge, creates the challenge album)
4. Post it BEFORE 6 PM IST, 31st October 2012

Quilting Gallery's weekly challenge stipulates:

The theme for next week's quilt contest is Dots, Checks, Stripes. You are free to interpret the theme as you see fit. Your quilt may represent the theme in the design and/or in the fabrics chosen. Any quilting style is acceptable. You can submit quilts of any size that are completely finished, i.e. quilted and bound.

Additional challenges I imposed upon myself (why, oh why do I do this to myself?):

1.  Must use fabrics from my stash.
2.  Use fat quarters only.  I refuse to cut into yardages if there is any possible way around it.

I should have checked the Internet at the start, but when have I ever taken the tried and true path?  So I started by picking out the fabrics.

Dots, checks and stripes, right?

My original plan was to use a nifty little technique (I WILL try this again and provide a tutorial sometime in the future) to make a Chevron quilt using the Fence Rail Pattern set on the diagonal, so I cut my strips to the recommended width.

Cut strips to what I thought the instructions said

And went ahead and sewed the strips together in the rail fence design.  And that's when the huge mistake was revealed.  I had mistaken the finished size for the cutting size and realized I didn't have enough blocks to make that quilt.  

Okay, no big deal!  I began laying out the design for the Greek Key design.

But something's wrong!

Yes, something's definitely wrong.  The beige strips are not cooperating!  The link gets broken because I've sewn three strips together.  Too much trouble to reverse sew!

This reminded me so much of my IT experience.  No matter what people say, when the requirements change, go right back to square one - the design phase - and start from scratch!  

And this is when I should have searched the Internet.  Instead I went to my drawing board and got out gridded paper and colored pencils and drew the design.

Looks kinda messy with all the writing on it.

After coloring in the design, I began trying to figure out how to use those blasted strips from the fence rail quilt, couldn't do it and ended up making a mess of my drawing.

Then I decided to scrap the old and begin with a brand new set of fabrics and made a pencil drawing of the Greek Key design.

Yes!

Because I would now be working with fresh fabrics and strips, what emerged when I started entering the sewing sequence, was a Log Cabin quilt!  I never cease to amaze myself!  

I picked out my fat quarters of dots, checks and stripes.

Fresh trio of fabrics

After carefully calculating exactly how long the finished block would be, AND how long the last strip would be, I cut out the strips.

Strips are ready to go!

I'm going to give you a sneak peek of my work in progress because I got some  of the sewing done.

Picture needs rotating - checked fabric is the focus

This is when I checked the Internet and found quite a few links for the Greek Key Log Cabin design, but guess what!  I couldn't find any that used 3 fabrics.  Using 2 fabrics is easy- three's the challenge!

Internet design

At my age, I've GOT to keep those neurons firing in the brain and this entire day has been a workout...mentally, I mean!

Take a look at the completed quilt and a tutorial here.

Cheers!