I have done many string quilts and love using my odds and ends of fabric, I call it making my own fabric from scraps. I do not see why you can't piece by hand if you use a muslin and not paper for the backing, the paper tears very easily and you need stability to sew scraps together. You can also start where ever you want in the square or what ever shape you decide to use (it does not have to be a square), but where ever you start the first piece is placed on rst then the other pieces are sewn to it wst. Happy stripping it is fun and a great stash reducer and I call it almost free if you don't purchase any other fabric to go with it.

Go to u tube Missouri Star Quilt Company/String Quilt

Thank you Deb from Ontario. I have saved this tute..It's a good one.. Tried this on my own, and had it in the throw away bag for a long time..I did not like it at all... Now I see why... :) Got it out, as it's just too hard to throw away that, that could be selvedged..perhaps I can...now!

The first string quilt I made was the result of the Heart Strings Project. See Mary's instructions: http://www.maryquilts.com/

This is my favorite tut on string quilting

http://youtu.be/gOl7lQQyzZY

Okay, I'm home now so I can post my photos.

I believe in the KISS method of doing things and you can eliminate foundations altogether following the instructions in my tutorial here!

http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...e-t211900.html

but no matter what you chose to do - enjoy the process and have fun!

I have seen quite a few beautiful strip quilts on this board, all so different. Most say they use paper and I was surprised they used old phone book pages, cut to 6 1/2". I, too, want to make one but I am going to do it "controlled" using a jelly roll or two, and by machine. I do PP and love it, I think the paper is easy to remove and it keeps me "straight".

Your quilt is beautiful. I love the idea of the sashing. Another way to use up scraps.

By placing a solid black/white/red strip down the center of your block it appears to have sashing squares. Plus I personally wouldn't do hand piecing except on muslin or some other lightweight material because we never know if our strips are on grain or not and they need the stability of a foundation. Bonnie Hunter suggests using old phone books for foundations, setting machine stitch to 12-15 per inch and using a #90 Jeans needle to make it easier to remove paper. And if your foundation paper starts to tear before you want it to - use printer labels cut in strips (like a band-aid) to tape them together.