Saturday, January 27, 2007

Fish Strings and HST's

Heartstrings Fishy, anyone? I was thinking the one with the heart wouldn't be too good for a guy, so here's a fishy one:


Now I know that green isn't one of the 'official colors' for the centers of the blocks, but they also say in the guidelines that if you make a whole top, not just blocks to send in, that you can use any string pattern you wish. Anyone got lots of blue and green strings to sew with?

And I haven't only been playing on EQ lately designing headers and string block layouts, I've also been sewing up a storm. Unfortunately, while I've been very productive, there's not much to show:


These are 204 half square triangles, waiting to be ironed. Over there to the left are 8 pages of 8 more hst's waiting to be cut into triangular bits, get their dog ears trimmed, and be pulled off the paper. And yes, those of you with sharp eyes can see that I'm arranging all my finished hst's on a cookie sheet... lol

No, I'm not planning on baking them, I just have to be able to move them to a place where kitty midnight-rampaging/racing can't send my neat little fabric-sorted piles flying. Do any of your cats wake up from a sound sleep then suddenly tear off on a cat version of invisible ghost-chasing?

Bunches and bunches of these 4½ inch blocks yet to go, hundreds. These will be part of 36 depression blocks, for a king size quilt, so I'll be plugging away for a while, sewing hsts in my sleep... till I get 576 of them done. :) I don't want to start sewing any of the hst blocks together until I get over 16 different blue fabrics I'll be using, so I can mix them all up in each block.

24 comments:

Cher said...

fabulous variations of string blocks arrangements!!! thanks so very much ForestJane for lending your wonderful talent for our inspiration...good luck with your "millions" of halfsquare triangles! I know, it will only seem that many LOL.

Silverthimble said...

You are so clever! What a creative design for a fellow--a fish string!

Helen in the UK said...

Love the fish design - great idea for boys. Congrats on your growing pile of HSTs. I'm working on some too at the moment, trying to fit between other projects so that they are done without me having to work on them constantly :)

Sweet P said...

The fish design is very creative. I'm sure many males would enjoy that quilt.

That's a lot of HST's. I've seen some other bloggers making depression blocks and I've been thinking about making some myself. Thanks for the inspiration.

Melanie said...

I love the Heartstrings Designs... They need to be submitted for prints and postage stamps! Too cute!

KC Quilter said...

Love, love, love all your variations of the string quilts--so creative you are! About the middle of the night, kitty rampaging...I heard on an animal show once that it is called FRAPping. Frenetic Random Animal (can't remember what the P stood for!!! Need more coffee!!!) and my two furballs engage in it frequently! Cats Gone Wild.

Joyce said...

I can't believe you can sew that many HST's without starting to put them together. I always break down and start assembling before I am finished cutting. I can't wait to see how they will look.

quiltpixie said...

I love the fish design -- perfect for a less "mushy" qulit in my mind!

I put all my HST into a small (8X12X 5") plastic bin with a lid for the same reason :-)

Gail said...

Love all your cleaver string designs, it makes things so much more interesting. Also, all those hst in blues inspire me...perhaps the word should be distract me..LOL I want to start that instead of contniuing on my plant to knock of pigs and make quilts for each family member for next Christmas. If I stop to do that, I'll never get done! (or started for that matter!!)

The Calico Cat said...

Love the fishy! (I don't think the color matter if you make a whole quilt top!)

SuBee said...

Have you written a book? If you haven't, you really should think about it. What a design wizard yiou are! The more I se of your original designs the more in awe I am. WTG!

Ann said...

Very cute fish! And, you're almost halfway thru the hst's! (knowing you, though, you probably ARE halfway done by now(Sunday afternoon)) Guess I need to follow your suit and get more sewing done! Now that I got my baby "fix", I'm hoping to do just that......SEW SEW SEW!!

Joanne said...

I love the fish and I discovered today that I have more green scrap strips than just about any other color!
I spent the day trimming hst's for the border of my Depression block quilt -- takes a lot of time!

Mary Johnson said...

The fish are cute! I'm going to put a link to both the hearts and the fish on the HeartString website and the Yahoo group.

I had a request for a pink ribbon - I attempted one and asked other members of the HeartStrings group to give it a shot if they're interested - if you get bored and want to try one let me know.

Cynthia said...

your fish design for a string quilt is great. Very clever.

So many HSTs. Look forward to seeing you make them up into the Depression blocks

The Calico Cat said...

Check my blog - I posted an "All Siamese" print...

Susan said...

I absolutely love the fish one. That would be cute for any child, too. I may have to make that when I've saved enough strings!

Your depression blocks are going to be so great. I can understand not wanting to make them until all the hsts are ready, but aren't you just itching to stitch them? The cookie sheet is a great idea.

I read your note about cats to my DH, and he says, "That's just normal cat behavior." =)

Carol E. said...

Cute fishy. And to answer your question at my blog, the little yellow heart quilt I made with beads on the bottom is about 11-inches square, not counting the beads. I'm kind of liking it now that it's done, and I almost hope no one buys it. Maybe I'll have to bid on it myself. How weird would that be?!

Carol said...

Your cookie sheet idea is wonderful! Love the fishy strings.

Quilts And Pieces said...

I love your fish strings quilt - what an adorable idea!

Linda C said...

Cool fish but then so is the heartstrings design!

It is hard to imagine just that many HST's. I think I would be seeing them in my sleep! And just counting them would send me around the bend, LOL.

Pippi is good to go on kitty rampages first thing in the morning. She seems to forget that she tore that ACL and had repair surgery when she is tearing up the hall at 90 mph.

She also scared the beejeebers out of me last night while I was cooking. I was looking high and low for a little piece of my small food chopper and had left the door open where I store it. Yep, unbeknownst to me she had gotten in the cupboard and when I closed the drawer above it---out she came in a gray flash. SNOOPY!

Shelina said...

That fish quilt is gorgeous! What a great idea for a string quilt. It opens up the world to a whole bunch of different possibilities!
Those hsts are showing lots of progress. I am sure it feels like a never ending project right now, but I bet you'll be showing us the finished quilt in no time!

Hedgehog said...

Just love this fishy layout! Just found it today (9.12) from Mary's page.

WilmaNC1 said...

Love this!!! Great idea.

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