Modern Irish {Scrappy} Bee: July's Blocks

I can’t believe it’s July already and my turn to be Queen Bee. This is the first time I have taken part in a Bee so I thought by picking July I would have plenty of time to be organised. Then the universe laughed and laughed, and here I am the night before holidays knee deep in packing writing my first ever blog post. I have really enjoyed making all the different blocks and trying new patterns for the ladies so far this year. There are going to be some spectacular quilts! My pile of scraps doesn’t appear to be getting very much smaller though the list of quilts I want to make is getting longer….. I have changed my mind so many times about which block I would like but finally chose this one. It’s pretty simple as blocks go but I love the effect. I would like you each to make eight 6.5 inch square (unfinished) string blocks. This tutorial by Sherri McConnell is very easy to follow (though note she works off a larger block size). Once you have your strings prepared they only take minutes to put together. In keeping with our scrappy theme these can be as colourful and scrappy as you like. The only stipulation I have is that the centre strip is a happy colourful selvedge. I hope you have some lying around. I’m not a huge fan of batiks and civil war type colours but other than that anything goes. Linen mixes etc are fine. If you want to add other selvedge strips into the block too that’s cool as well.

   

Your foundation fabric can be any scrap cotton fabric you have as it won't be seen. I used part of a sheet I had cut up for another project.

   

 I found it helpful to start by drawing a line down the centre diagonal of the foundation block, then another ¼ inch from the centre line. It's quite faint but it's there in the photo. Or you can live on the wild side and wing it- it's that kind of block.

 

I lined the edge of my selvedge strip along this line as my starting point.

   

 Then just keep adding strings as shown in the tutorial. Press and trim.

   

 And there you have it- a nice summer evening project.

-Fiona