Two Red, White, Blue Flimsies

 Red, White, Blue Strings

70 x 78

This year I've completed a lot of tops in red, white and blue. That resulted in a lot of red, white and blue strings so I decided to make this quilt to use those strings as well as some red and blue scraps that went into those HSTs. 

The inspiration for this quilt (below)...

...came from a quilt called String Fling from American Patchwork and Quilting August 2012 designed by Glenn Dragone. I made my blocks smaller (8.5 unfinished) so made more of them than in the instructions and I used paper as the foundation for the string blocks. My border is a little different than the instructions. So basically I used the picture as inspiration and did my own thing. 

 I think it has kind of a vintage vibe so maybe that is why I was drawn to it. 

 I also like string quilts and this one is a little different so I found it interesting. 

 I might have to give this one a try in a smaller donation quilt size and a different color way since my string box is still overflowing and this was fun to make. 

 Sail Away

60  x 72

from the book Sugar Sack Quilts by Glenna Hailey

 This called for 440 - two inch unfinished HSTs so lots of scraps were used to make them. Some scraps came from the recently finished Kansas Troubles top which also used 2 inch unfinished pieces. 

 I was kind of disappointed to see that I evidently used some off white instead of white when I made those HSTs for the smaller ship sails. That might be Kona Snow which I thought I kept in a separate place for use with 30s fabrics. Hopefully when all is quilted it won't be that noticeable but right now it really stands out to me although I hadn't noticed when the top was inside. Guess I need better lighting in the sewing room. 

 When I made that string quilt I pulled all the red, white and blue strings from the string box and put them in a separate box. Rather than throw the assortment back into the general population of strings I decided to make some wonky log cabin blocks. I'm aiming for 48 nine inch finished blocks. 

I also made some four inch red, white and blue crumb blocks. A lot of these crumbs came from trimming string blocks. I hate to throw anything away. I hate to waste plus I have an irrational fear that someday soon I will run out of fabric and regret throwing things away if I did so.  So, anyway...I put the crumb blocks into a nine patch. I'm aiming for 12 twelve inch finished nine patches with crumbs and red solid scraps. I think then I will add a blue sashing with red star cornerstones for another nice little donation quilt. 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt