Strings & Chicks

Thought I would post some progress on my string quilt - this is actually from the Material Obsession 2 crew in Australia.  I've seen a number of variations of these quilts - they are fabulous stash busters! The design is based on templates, uses a foundation for strength and stability, and then pieced together.  This, is my inspiration.

 



 

I'm actually getting ready to piece the larger blocks together. Bias is not my friend in this adventure.  In case you're interested, this is what I've learned.  Starch like crazy. Yes, really. If I made this again, I would make a starch bath for all the fabrics. Right now, I am getting bumps in the middle of my diamonds (center of the brown star above.)  This, is due to the bias stretching. Even though I was "very" careful, there was stretch.

After consulting a number of folks, I think the stretching is happening when I am cutting out the foundation, the piece of cotton that everything is sewn too.  I chatted with Bonnie at QuiltPlay and she suggested an alternative way to cut out these foundation pieces so the long length of the triangle is not on the bias.  I'm going to try this - I've got four more blocks to make along with the borders.

 

In other news, we have chickens!  I finally decided - "why wait for the perfect house? the perfect yard? So, one day when I was a the Farm & Fleet, I scooped up 7 chicks and brought them home.  We got the coop off of craigslist.

 

Jake named the two Rhode Island Reds - Boo Boo and Dr. Indiana Jones.  I have five Buff Orphingtons - Penelope, the Andrew Sisters, and Sophia (named for my niece.)

 

They don't look like this anymore. They've moved out of the sewing room condo to the greater outdoors.  I'll post teenage pics soon.