thimblebug6000

Jeanne... I've used both with no preference, both fun. You asked for any tips.... when you get near the "tips" of the square, use a strip larger than 1 ½" so you don't get too much bulk in your joining seam. Some of mine have pretty small little pieces near the edges. I'll post a picture of a care quilt (used paper foundation on this one) just to try to show you what I mean. [ATTACH=CONFIG]503576[/ATTACH]
You see where the blocks come together to form a square in this setting...lots of little pieces.... and I used all different widths of strips with no plan which one came next.

Marsh

I came across this pattern at Mary Quilts. http://www.maryquilts.com/amish-stripes-and-strings/
I think this is just beautiful, and plan to make it next month. It is a free download pattern, and the black print seems, to my eyes anyway, to calm down the strips.

MFord

Muslin or old sheet foundation squares are easier for arthritic hands than tearing off any kind of paper (at least for mine!). I love these quilts - your strips don't even have to be straight (or your seams!), and you can put it away for years if you'd like, then pick it up and just get going again. I like either white or dark strips for the center. You can arrange the blocks in diamond or zig-zag patterns. These are fun!

TexasSunshine

I use a very thin muslin and add batting and LA as usual.

Shadowirish

If you use a muslin or other fabric foundation, putting your blocks together with a walking foot and pressing seams open makes construction easier IMHO.

pattypurple

My tip is to make your foundation larger than finished size. I usually use muslin on mine but find that they tend to get skewed and need squaring when done.

quiltmouse

I made a queen size (still a flimsy - I plan to FMQ) top using the kite shape. I wasn't happy with the stretching, so after the first couple of rows, I started using up my very thin fabric (too thin to piece quilts out of) as foundations. This top is so so heavy!!! It will be a monster once batted, quilted & backed.

I cut my strips in random widths. I cut them with a rotary ruler - but did not even attempt to make both edges exactly parallel. I'm with thimblebug6000, you need to make some of your widths much wider than you think, especially on the last corner. Some of my corners are barely in the quilt, but I had to put them in, just so there would be a seam allowance. My suggestion is to measure the width you want (edge of kite to corner of block) then divide by the # of strips you need. Add & subtract the same width from your to get your various finished widths, then add seam allowances.

Say it's 5 inches, kite to corner. First of all, add 1/4 inch, cuz your corner needs a smidge more seam allowance. Four (finished strips) would be .75, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, and cutting widths would be 1.25, 1.75, 2, 2.25.

Regarding finished design: I was using up random blacks & random blues. I put half the blues on the right of the kite, and half on the left. This made blue diamonds going one direction and black the other.

As I continually laid the quilt on the floor, I discovered there is also a four petal flower motif possible. If my graphing is correct, to get the flower motif (say pink & orange flowers):

One quarter of your kite blocks would be pink-pink, one quarter orange-orange, one quarter orange on the left, and one quarter orange on the right.

As I contemplated my borders, I didn't want my kite color as borders, nor did I want to use the blue or the black, as all three touched the edges. It's a scrappy top, so thought bringing in another color element would be too junky-looking. Then, I realized, if I took the kite color to the edge of the quilt, then the diamonds end up floating on the quilt. So, I used my kite color as a foundation, and just put the strips on one side or other to finish off the diamonds as needed. It turned out well.

FroggyinTexas

I like big blocks--14 to 16 inches--placed on very lightweight muslin. Unlike other people, I don't cut the blocks into quarters and rejoin them. Instead, I am pretty careful about placing the first diagonal piece--the one that goes from corner to corner down the middle. I'm looking right now at the one that had red Christmas print in that position, surrounded by random scraps. It is really a pretty quilt. The advantages of using big blocks include (1) it takes a smalll number of blocks to make a wide quilt, e.g., four 16 inch blocks will come close to make a quilt 64 inches wide; five 16 inch blocks will come close to making a quilt 80 inches long. If you put a four inch border around it, you've got really good twin size quilt. (2) Because there are fewer joining seams, there is less bulk to be quilted. (3) Because there is less bulk the quilt washes and dries faster. Good luck with your string quilt. They are my favorite quilt to make. froggyintexas

Jingle

I have made several strip quilts. I made a couple by sewing three strips together, 2 sets. Sew them ontop of each other, sew both sides, cut into a triangle and flipping ruler up and down, opening up and sewing four together for a square. Finishing like any quilt. I made one QAYG. Lots of ways to make them.

lclang

For foundations: phone book pages, tracing paper, old newspaper, newsprint roll ends from your local newspaper publisher, etc. old sheets, ugly fabrics that you are sure you will never use, old shirting or lightweight fabric from used clothing, thin muslin, etc. There are many possibilities. When the blocks are finished they need to be measured, trimmed and then assembled into a quilt top. They are then added to batting and backing and quilted or tied. They make wonderful gifts and are a good way of using up the scraps.