Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cutting and Sewing the Blue Strips and Strings - Alternative Method!

Alrighty then - I just discovered Polly the Patchworker and her method to the Orca Bay Mystery madness - what an ingenious quilter!  (If you haven't checked her out yet, do yourself a favor and go there soon!!)  I couldn't help myself, I HAD to try out her strip piecing method for the 3 1/2" blue string squares since I totally prefer strip piecing to almost any other kind of piecing for its simplicity and S P E E D.  I've been out in the studio rummaging and searching and scrounging and I hit the jackpot for blues - from ocean blue-greens to Civil War blues with some batiks and a golden/sparkly blue-green-grey wild card thrown in for good measure...


I even robbed a few strips from a couple of 2 1/2" jelly rolls, cut the strips down to 1 1/2" leaving a 1" strip that can also be used giving me two usable strips out of one jelly roll strip - I'm on a roll (sorry, I couldn't help myself ;-)


I even found some really old black printed fabric I will add to my black/white mix for my quarter square triangles - I will finish them this week, just need a little diversion and some FUN!  Sewing these blue strips of gorgeous will fill the bill and give me the needed impetus to finish and get caught up this week - sounds good, anyway.

Oh I just noticed, it's snowing outside and my two golden bears have just discovered snow for the first time (I refer to my two golden retrievers, Baxter the playful pooch and Theodore the Thinker, as golden bears since they are almost as big as bears, LOL!)  What fun watching them eat snowflakes while I'm inside where it's nice and toasty sewing away - Life is sooooo good...

2 comments:

  1. Hi Deb, how pleasantly surprised I was to see you enjoyed the way I made my little 3 1/2 inch squares. This is the first time I have joined in on one of Bonnie's mystery quilts. I'm loving it! My sister Julia from Mississippi is also doing one. She is #100 on this Monday's linky link. I will enjoy following your progress. ~PollythePatchworker~

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  2. Hi Polly – so glad to hear from you AND you are a lifesaver! I knew as soon as I saw your ingenious method of sewing the strings that’s exactly what I was opting for (I had been dreading sewing ALL those strings on ALL those papers – Ugh!) Sorry, no offense to those who enjoy that type of piecing, but it isn’t for me w/too much fabric, too little time to make all those quilts – I ALWAYS prefer the most efficient/fastest method, if possible. Thanks to you, I am finishing up sewing my blue strips/strings together and will be ready to cut apart soon - any tips/precautions before I make the first cut?

    I will definitely be following your lead as this is also my first Mystery Quilt w/Bonnie, (I have all her books and the reason for my original interest ;-). I really enjoyed your blog and spent a little bit of time there (hope to have time to spend more when I get caught up), and even shared a few pictures with the hubs. You and your sister(?) have some beautiful quilts, Oh MY! (And your guys haven’t done too shabbily with their deer hunting, either - what amazing pictures!)

    So glad you took the time to stop by and I’ll look up your sister as well! You have a very lovely family and I so admire your sewing/quilting talent.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Deb

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