Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Fabric Therapy

Judy Laquidara over at Patchwork Times hosted a Quiltathon today, and as I am on a mini vacation, I was able to participate! Thanks, Judy, it was fun!

I've been working on DD's string quilt, and finally got the last square done. Well, actually, I needed about 40 more, but don't have any more of the center strip fabric. I can't seem to find it on eBay, in any of the quilt shops, or in Google anywhere. It would help if I could remember the manufacturer or the name of the line, but I've had those strips cut for months and the selvages are long gone. I can't even remember where or when I bought it. And since DD wanted all the center strips the same, I may have to put on a very wide border to make it large enough to snuggle up in.

Here's the final stack:

See the center strips? Kind of a dark grayish blue with streaks of raindrops. Does anyone out there know the name of the manufacturer or the designer or the line? Do I dare hope anyone out there has some of this fabric you'd like to trade or sell me? Email me if you have any info for me, please.

At the hospital, we're having March of Dimes contests. The different units and/or departments are competing against each other for fundraising. ICU and Tele combined to provide lasagna boxed dinners, but anything we have to raffle is appreciated, too. So I thought I'd put together a scrappy baby rail fence.

I've spent today cutting out and sewing together all the strips. Of course, I did some frog stitching, too. I am just not a pastel type of girl, and I had to throw in some darker/brighter fabrics. Then I hated the way they looked so took apart about 11 blocks and recut fabric and resewed the blocks. The blocks are all done, but not together, and I haven't decided what to use for the binding and the backing yet.

Here it is partially laid out:


So, do you want me to post the tutorial for the string quilt now, or wait until I have DD's quilt all finished? Or at least the blocks all sewn together? I've taken all the photos up to this point, including some sample layouts. Just let me know!

Now, I'm off to fire up the C-PAP and get ready for bed. This is the 3rd mask and it looks like it might be a keeper. Still some glitches to work out, but this is a good week for it. Tomorrow morning will be the first area bee I've been able to attend since Christmas, and I am looking forward to it. The new leaders are far more experienced than my last co-leader and I and it seems to really be picking up.

'Night all!

4 comments:

Perry said...

Have not seen that fabric. I do have a suggestion though. What happens if you put a very thin border (1 to 1 1/2") of a black that will work with the black you can't find, and then do a pieced border of 3" squares of all of the other colors you are using in your quilt, and then put a larger border on it. If you use too wide of an outside border it throws the quilt dimensions off, if that makes sense. You are doing great work for a beginner!

Steph said...

What a beautiful string quilt! I did a check in the stash and didn't find anything, there is a place where you can post a picture of the fabric but the place is eluding me at the moment and I have heard a lot of good reports from it. Might be worth a shot! Those pastels are very Springy and look great!

MightyMom said...

love DDs quilt, I say wait till it's all done to put up the tutorial....

go with the wide border or maybe 2 not so wide borders....

consider it your "evil eye" and remember "only God can make something that is perfect"

that baby quilt is too cute! but I'm with you on the pastels. gag. The mommy who gets it will just love them though!!

Busy Little Quilter said...

Your blocks are beautiful.

I think I found your fabric here: http://www.thespiderswebfabricshop.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?product=landscape_one&productid=z1491199_06_jpg&pid=1#z1491199_06_jpg

I typed in "raindrops" at quiltshops.com. I think this is it!