stringin' along

Hot off the heels of this week's disaster, I forged ahead as planned with a string quilt. I decided the only reasonable thing to do is make a quilt that matches the minuscule pillow that does not match my couch. So I've set off on a tangerine, teal, red and sometimes pink string quilt. Given that I'd already cut a whole lot of batting squares for the quilt-as-you-go project, I decided to try repurposing them. I'm using them as the base for the strings instead of piecing to paper or calico. QAYG strings?! That may just work. I have a bit of a plan, and I'm thinking out loud here just in case someone spots a problem with before I do.

I'm piecing strings directly onto the quilt batting. Effectively QAYG without any quilting showing. Another way of thinking about it is that I'm foundation piecing directly onto the batting. When I'm done, I plan to sew the blocks together with a 1/4" seam. Yes, it will be a bit bulky in places. I think the Bernina can cope and help flatten it.

Before I add the backing fabric, I'm going to use Perle thread and "hand quilt" some squares around the quilt. Since it's already pieced to the batting, these are purely for decoration on the front. I want to give the illusion that I've done some quilting since all of the machine QAYG piecing is hidden. By hand sewing it before adding the backing, I won't have to worry about burying the knots. Both cheeky and lazy. I struggle with properly burying Perle thread, so this is a big win for me. Then I'll add the backing as described in Penny's QAYG tutorial.

Of course, I'm totally making this up on the fly. It may well fail in which case I'll find myself with 16, 25 or 36 miniature pillows that don't match my couch. Regardless, I've got a plan and I'm in for the Scrap Attack quilt along.  I'm so happy to hear how many you are joining in!