String Quilt questions and a suggestion
 

With all the talk about string quilts lately Last week I decided to make one. Even though I have been quilting less than a year I have a lots of odds and ends of fabric thanks to several friends downsizing and my frequent trips to Goodwill.
At first I did not know what I would use for the foundation but then I found tracing paper among my hubby’s art supplies. Works great and irons well. He had 3 weights. I started with the heaviest first that was the easiest to get off after the block was completed. I have just finished off the second heaviest weight not so easy to get off but not too bad. I am about to start on the 3rd and final roll.
I am making 9-inch squares with the center strip white. I have 54 blocks done so far. I plan on making 80.
Here is my questions, it seems like all the pictures of string quilts I have seen are done on point is there some reason for this? I have not yet sewed any thing this way. Also wondering what method of quilting is most often used?

Thanks for any comment. As always, LOVE this board
Bj

Everyone has a different 'like'.. Some like the way it looks on point.. some like one block horizontal and the next one vertical... Its anything you want it to be... any size block.. thats the joy, theres no right or wrong way ...

Make up a few blocks and play with them.. see what catches your eye and run with it..

I use a phone book... seems like an endless supply of them here.. One phone book will last a REALLY REALLY long time... Just shorten your stitches and the paper will peel off easier.. ..

Some will use old dryer sheets and leave them on as a stabilizer- then there are others who say its extremely flammable-.. Use what you are comfortable with.. Heck some even use plain ole cheap muslin..

AS for quilting- again, a matter of likes and dislikes.. some stitch in the ditch, some all over stippling.. and if you as talented as Charisma you can do oodles and oodles of designs..

your experience with the pictures is just coincidence.... we all do our strip piece blocks differently... Personally, I do mine as a 'magic square'.... i make my blocks on a 13.5 base fabric/interfacing. I mostly use the thinnest, cheapest sheets I can find at the local thrift stores. Then i begin in the middle, corner to corner, sew and flip, sew and flip, working both ways from the center outward. then when i have 12 blocks, I place them face down on solid fabric...usually red, black or navy... then I mark the back of the block on the diagonal, just like a normal HST and sew all of them, usually just stitching over to the next square without clipping, then i cut all around the squares with my rotary cutter at the end... then trim, cut center seams apart and open... I have done it both ways, either across the strips or 'with' them...both look cute.... now I automatically have 24 blocks, perfect for a 4 x 6 block twin sized quilt, put on a border and go.... personally, i am happier with all the scraps if i have some unifying factor in them...

here is a pic of a quilt with 4 of these blocks in it... also there are several other designs treated the same way, because i wanted them all in the quilt (a block exchange with friends) and I wanted them to go together... [ATTACH=CONFIG]304708[/ATTACH]

you can see that this time i put them on across the strips... ps... the thin fabric stays inside... after finishing the piecing, i trim all the ends to match the base fabric, then when making the magic square i lose another tiny bit, so when trimmed, they are 12.5.... finish at 12... i always look for the old sheets on every thrift store trip...

Are you sure it just doesn't appear to be on point. Sometimes the placement of the blocks just makes them look that way. I have made somw that are just sewed in rows.

I use cheap muslin - I am making tiny string quilts so I want reinforcement that will stay with the block. I usually sew them on point - I take a square and lay a string from corner to corner and start from there. I have also done it the other way. My avatar has it the first way. the pic shows one I did the other way.

check out the tutorial "Ditter's String Quilt" -- great tute plus she has another one that shows how to qayg. Both excellently done. There are other examples if you search on "string quilt".
The blocks only appear to be on point when actually it's the (in Ditter's example) dark diagonal center strip on each block that makes the 'on point' illusion. They're really comprised of squares with each square's dark strip meeting the dark strips of the adjoining squares. It'll become clear when you check it out.

String quilts would be such a good way to use those odds and ends left over from other quilt blocks. Good idea. Thanks

Ahh I think you are right--all of you, glad!!