Friday, December 31, 2010

Let's strip.....

on this last day of 2010! Sooo much emphasis on "old", it's making me tired! How about something NEW? A sneak peek...something new to take into 2011. Are you ready??? First of all...you need strips!! Any size, color of length. Choose a size to begin with, as you can see my bin holds 2" strips. Pressing as you go is optional, but often gives you a better "join up". Let's join!
 Joining is EASY, joining is FUN! You can use the now famous "connector corner"ala Country Threads or just stitch straight across. The sew'n'flip' join yields bonus triangles, if that appeals to you. At the joining spot, you could stick in a HST of the correct size, or an hourglass or even just a square. It adds visual interest to the top, and is kind of fun. Not to mention you can use spare parts!! See how easy joining is? The length you create is up to you. Choose an approximate length to make your strippy quilt and GO TO WORK. You can make ONE long continous strip, or many of about the length you're aiming for. I usually make many and today I'm using 72" as my length. When you have two(the right length) join them up by matching the upper corner and sewing down the whole length. Now wasn't that easy???
 You just keeping adding to the "whole" as strippy lengths are created. One important tip is this...ALTERNATE ENDS as you add strippy lengths. If you don't you'll have a lovely curving mess before long. It's not hard, when you reach the bottom of the section, reach over to the opposite side of that section(which is also at the bottom) and flip it over to be the top for the next "join".
 
That's how its done. It's fast, easy and ever so easy to press. Even the quilting is easy. I zoom down the ditch every so many rows, depending on what width my strips are. The quilt shown here, I finished in the UFO challenge and it went home with my DSIL for Christmas. I used 3.5" strips in this one. The strips truly can be what you want them to be, width wise. I have also alternated widths within one strippy top. No reason you can't use some 1.5", 2", 2.5" and so forth. You just keep each strip row all of one size or another. When you join it to the one before, the width makes no difference at all. I hope you will give this a try. It gobbles up strips cut from fabric we are tired of, lets you use unpopular colors of thread to sew with, and makes donation quilts really fast. Just make sure you've got some brights and/or happy fabrics in there! Hugs for all, Finn
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15 comments:

Scrappy quilter said...

Great tutorial. Going to have to make on of those quilts this year. Right now I'm working on another SBS and 2 other quilts. And I'm doing lots of reading.

Hugs

Kelly said...

Neat idea. Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year!

julieQ said...

Let's!!! Love this quilt so much, what a great tutorial...Happy New Year!

Sara said...

Thanks, Finn!
I'm just about ready for "something different". Today HAS to be one last day on UFOs, but with the new year, your stripping looks like a winner for me!

Keep up all the encouraging you do for the rest of us -- we are Sooo appreciative!

Chrissie said...

Thanks so much, Finn! I just love coming on your blog - you always have great ideas. I'm cleaning up my sewing room, and now that I have more time, I'm going to be sewing like mad, and for sure I'll use this strip quilt idea. God bless you, dear friend! I'll keep popping in to see what wonders you create on that sewing machine of yours! :)

KaHolly said...

Looks like fun!! I always have a basket of strips.

Paula, the quilter said...

I love these strippy quilts! Plus they are so practical for little ones, aren't they?

Hey, guess what? I finished and posted on my second and final UFO of 2010!! Yipee!

Magpie Sue said...

You've just about convinced me to start my new year off by sewing up a batch of old strips! This trick has been on my To Do Someday list for a while now...

I'm with you, too tired to do any more work on my UFO's for this year's challenge. Two got done though, and a couple of other unexpected projects as well. I'm content.

Happy New Year my friend!

Unknown said...

Great tutorial Finn
Sorry I didn't complete my goal this year (only one completed) that's the trouble when you are sharing a craft room and equipment with a newbie (plus no central heating in the craft room) but I hope to do better this year with UFO's

Clare said...

Great tutorial. Thanks. Have stored this anyway for future reference.

Happy New Year my friend.

Angie said...

Finn, you are amazing!! This is a GREAT idea AND a great tutorial!! I'm glad you've started something 'new'...I'm going to start on something 'new' today....I just might even have a go at THIS tutorial. I LOVE the simplicity of it...and the quilt that you gave as a gift at Christmas was beautiful. :)

Happiest of New Years to you and Ebby...and you BET that puppy on my blog is for YOU...isn't it ADORABLE!!! You NEED a puppy to entertain you and Ms. Ebby----excellent New Year addition to your happy little household, I say. :D Hugs to you my dear dear friend.

Barbara C said...

Thanks for the tips on making this quilt Finn. I admired previous versions of this quilt, and it inspires me to use up some of my drawerful of strips.

I hope you have a happy and creative 2011!

Judy S. said...

Great idea, Finn. All my sewing plans got derailed by some health issues, but I'm OK now and raring to go. This looks fun, but I have some UFOs waiting first.

Lee D said...

fabulous quilt. I must do for my overflowing strips bin.

Mama Spark said...

Hi Finn, I used to have a link, and I think I got it from you about how to calculate how long to make your initial strip to figure out how big your finished quilt was. Then my computer died and now I have no idea where the blog was that you sent me to. If you can remember and know what I am talking about, can you send it to me again, please?? I sure appreciate it if you can!