Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Working with Strings

What I want is so simple I almost can't say it: elementary kindness. Enough to eat, enough to go around. The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be neither the destroyers nor the destroyed.
~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Quilting


Leftovers from  the light green back of my Wheel quilt make the center string on these blocks. The other strings are the "dark" ones from my scrap bag. I used many of the paler ones on the baby word quilts. 

But the green and yellow string conflicts with the center...
 

So I took it out by sewing over that seam, cutting the offending string away, then reattaching the outer strings. Writing these steps makes it sound difficult but it was quite easy. There are no seams to match; it just needs sufficient seam allowance. 

Now there are some greens {but they are darker} and some strings with close values {but they are mostly blue.}

This is what I finished this week.The four center blocks are squares but the others are rectangular.  I have an idea from an online talk by Sarah Nishiura


Let's see how it goes.

Reading

I enjoyed Motherland so much that I looked for Leah's first book, America for Beginners. We meet Pival in Kolkata shortly after the death of her husband. She booked a sightseeing trip to America with a touring agency pretending to be run by Indians but actually owned by a Bangladeshi. And Pival doesn't want to sightsee. She's traveling to find her son, Rahi, who may or may not be dead.  Leah looks at family, immigration, and prejudice as each character chases their own American Dream.

Enjoy the day, Ann

20 comments:

Julierose said...

Lovely string blocks you have going on there;))) I am looking forward to making some soon; after this Many Trips fetish has expired hahaha
I think i want to make a semi-controlled grouping--we'll see...Hugs, Julierose

patty a. said...

I like how the light green strips stand out in a grid like pattern that almost look 3D.

Ann said...

We work the same way - many repeats until the latest fetish subsides. It's a good way to work through many variations as ideas hit us, isn't it?

Ann said...

Thanks. It's coming along but is different than I envisioned.

Preeti said...

"The earth is not a true sphere but an oblate spheroid." Your strings remind of that sentence from high school :-) because the strings flatten as they move away from the center. Glad to see you back :-)

Mystic Quilter said...

Now that's a different take on the usual all square string blocks, I do like the effect and that you have the central strings all the same colour.

Pamela said...

This is very pretty. I like seeing how the colors and patterns take shape.

Angie in SoCal said...

I seem to have missed your first post on the string quilt you are working on now. Will you direct me?

Ann said...

It reminds me of our college chant. I should have known you'd have something similar. Your QAL is coming along well.

Ann said...

Sarah described it in a talk. Plus I saw Alison Goss' quilt at the Festival years ago, probably back in the 90s, and work by Margaret Miller on warping blocks. Lots of ideas running around to finally try.

Ann said...

Thanks, Pamela. I hope it works out.

Ann said...

This is the first post.

Cathy said...

I like the effect - an optical illusion. Looks to me 3Dish like the center is raised. But then again my eyes are failing so it might just be me. I had never heard of Sarah Nishiura so had to go take a peek at her quilt gallery. I don't think those are my kind of quilts but I do like yours so far.

Ann said...

I've seen optical illusion quilts for decades but am finally trying one. Since this uses scraps, it seems easier to me.

LA Paylor said...

I have an American dream.... sigh... I've done that fix with sewing. I've also appliqued a strip over the wrong color now and then, when I don't notice til it would be a mess to undo... your strings are always intriguing to see

Ann said...

Nice to know I'm in good company, LeeAnna.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Combining the square shapes & rectangles certainly puts a great spin on things, very clever!

Ann said...

It's an idea I've been meaning to try for decades. Finally started.

Nann said...

So glad you've enjoyed Franqui's books! String variations are great.

Ann said...

Thanks for the tip about her.