Monday, June 22, 2015

The Trouble with Tribbles ...

...er, I mean strings

"The Trouble with Tribbles" was probably my favorite episode of Star Trek.  As I recall, the Tribbles, furry little creatures, kept reproducing/multiplying, much to the chagrin of the Enterprise crew.

That's the way I feel about strings -- they multiply when you're not looking!

Side Table Mess
In an attempt to clean the cream/neutral strings off my side table, I decided to devote my time Sunday to making more 6-1/2" string blocks.    Here's the scenario (and it all boils down to my decision to make 6-1/2" blocks):  It takes a strip about 10" to cover the diagonal, and another strip almost as long to go on either side of it.  Most of my scraps are a LOT smaller, so I dug into my 1-1/2" strips.  Likewise, the corners are best done with triangles, so I dug into my squares.  Before I knew it, my pile of cream/neutral scraps was bigger than when I started -- and I made 21 blocks yesterday!!


Neutral Shoebox
I finally just stuffed all the leftovers into my "neutral" shoebox.   I want to use the right side table for leader/ender projects.  I'm tired of the mess on my sewing table.  I want to get organized .....


Candy Dish pieces on top of Twist of Lime project box
with strip rack in the background
Currently in progress -- "Candy Dish," (my variation on "Beach Party") and Twist of Lime.  As soon as I get these two projects out of the way -- or to a point where I need to take them to a retreat -- I plan to sew stripsets with all the 1-1/2" strips I cut for the log cabin project that I didn't use.  I've been looking through my books for projects that will use 4-patches, 9-patches, 16-patches -- anything that starts with a 1-1/2" strip.  Suggestions, Anyone?

In my free time I'm still watering ....


Happy to report the deer have not found the still-to-be-planted butterfly bushes at all tempting and the recently planted azalea is flourishing.

Stash Status last week:  nothing in, nothing out.  I'm close to finishing the Christmas table runners.  Six tops are finished and three more are cut and ready to stitch.  Then it will be on to final assembly.

Because it's Monday, I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.


5 comments:

  1. Strings are AWESOME! Yes, they multiply, but, they are so fun to mindlessly piece.
    We haven't had to water here for over a week.....rain every day!

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  2. Scraps do reproduce! I just stuffed a bunch of mine into a bag to be dealt with at a later day. Hopefully I'll force myself to deal with them sooner rather then later. You have lots of wonderful-ness on your table!

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  3. The quilt on the cover of June 2015 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine uses 1 1/2" strips. This is my current leader & ender project. I usually think of my scraps as rabbits, but I like the idea of tribbles even better.

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  4. I'm cutting squares for Arkansas Crossroad. Mom can sort the 4-patches on paper plates for me to sew together. This will probably be a quilt for one of her grandchildren.
    I found string quilts very messy to work on, and I really didn't enjoy the ones I have done. But I don't mind strips.
    Sharon B in Franklin

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  5. The more the strings multiply, the more blocks you can make with them! I just love the colors of Candy Dish. That is going to be a beautiful quilt! On the Trekkie front, my husband and I did one of the coolest things we have done in Nashville last Friday night. The Star Trek reboot movie was playing at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, while the Symphony played the soundtrack live. It was AMAZING!!! I hadn't seen the movie, which was good, but the music!! It is far better live than in a movie theater! Have a blessed day.

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