Oh, Scrap! More Strips and Strings and Two More Quilts

I dug into my Quilt Vault and pulled out two more scrap buster quilts. These were made almost 20 years ago from the bags of strips and leftover pieces of fabric I couldn't bear to throw out.

The first one is Rocky Road to Kansas, a vintage pattern. I cut dozens of 6-1/2" squares of newsprint and began piecing randomly on them for a foundation. I trimmed them and spent about 2 years mindlessly stitching with no plan in mind. I saw a vintage Rocky Road to Kansas quilt and realized my string pieced squares could now find a home!

This quilt has 17" blocks for an 80" x 80" bed sized quilt. Very scrappy! This appeared in Quilt Magazine, October 2000.

Rocky Road to Kansas

The method for cutting those string pieced kaleidoscope units was easy - any Kaleidoscope ruler will do (I include full size templates in my pattern). But I had some lovely leftovers from those leftovers (how can that be?) I could see that they were usable and put my thinking cap on and then my eyes landed on my Tri Recs ruler (a different angle than the Kaleidoscope ruler). I realized I could make them star points! And so I made String Pieced Stars. It also appeared in the same magazine issue. I guess my editor was happy to offer a two-for-one feature. I was happy with that check!

String Pieced Stars has 13-1/2" blocks and is a 55-1/2" x 72" quilt. This quilt now lives in a prominent place with my sister in law! I had forgotten who I had given it to long ago, and then we were on Face Time last week and this quilt was in the background! She says it is her very favorite quilt. It is in a happy home.

String Pieced Stars

I have bundled both of these quilts into one pattern on my Craftsy site. It is 13 pages of well illustrated, step by step directions with color pictures and artwork.

These are not quick quilts, but cut out some newsprint squares and begin piecing from your scrap bag and soon enough you will have what you need to start making your own Rocky Road to Kansas - and then the String Pieced Stars. Nothing goes to waste.

But, remember! You're not going to make much of a dent in your scrap pile. We know that a lot of hanky panky goes on at night and new scraps are born each morning. I'm just saying!

Just a sneak peek of what I've been string piecing this last week. These are destined to become Lone Star units. What do you think? I'll have more on these in the coming weeks. I have 12 more to finish and have a plan in mind.

String pieced Diamonds