Slinging the Strings

It seems the heat has finally broken here in the Salt Lake Valley. Autumn is on its way. This born-and-raised California beach girl who has loved summer for decades once denied that summer was over (jokingly) until the last leaf fell from the big pear tree back in our last house. And that was in January. But now I’ve become a bigger fan of autumn. Let the celebrations begin! Give me falling leaves, cooler days, and pumpkin spice. It’s not sweater weather yet by any stretch of the imagination, but next week is our Closing-of-the-Pool community party, and I’m bringing Caramel Apple Salad. Yum. Have the leaves started turning color yet where you are? They haven’t started turning yet here in the Salt Lake Valley, but they have up in the mountains. It won’t be long!

As my blog title suggests, I was playing with strings this week. But it didn’t start out that way. I couldn’t resist sewing one of those quick Strippy donation quilts of which I cut out five kits, if memory serves. It took me less than 30 minutes to sew up. 

I let the fabric strips (all width-of-fabric) dictate the size and number of strip panels. These scraps came from my friend Wanda. Here’s a better closeup where you can appreciate the vibrancy. 

I had to just sew one up quick, but made myself move on to something else once the top was sewn. I’ve begun my Fall Finishing Frenzy. I have some loose goals. First I’d like to sew 600 string blocks between now (beginning of September) and the end of the year. Since I safety pin them in groups of 15 for Quilts for Kids kits, that would be 40 sets of 15. It’s an ambitious goal, and honestly, I’ll be happy with anything over 418. That was how many I sewed in 2023, and I started those in October. I didn’t do string blocks in the fall of 2024. 

In addition to strings, I’d like to finish up at least a half dozen of my RSC block sets into quilts. But first I’ll work on my Halloween quilt for this year. I’m planning to baste it this week, just have to finish a couple seams on the backing. Maybe that will happen on Monday or Tuesday. 

But I do have some string blocks (6.5” unfinished) to show for this week. Sixty of them. I love that little mouse in the corner of the block in the bottom left stack. Do you recognize any fabrics you have or have worked with in the past?

After I baste my Halloween quilt this week, I plan to switch colors on the strings and sew up a bunch of brown blocks. I’ve got a few fabrics that I can pair them with (like football 🏈 fabric), and they’ll make a couple cool boys’ quilts. 

That’s all I’ve got for this week. I am anxious to see if you all have begun your finishing frenzies. Have a wonderful week! Linking up to Scrappy Saturday/Rainbow Scrap Challenge.