I switched over to sew Step #4 of the Good Fortune mystery on "Ethel" a short bed Singer 301 from 1953, and it was a delightful sewing experience! Bonnie gave several methods of string piecing and regular piecing to complete this step and for the first time I decided to try her idea of piecing on phone book papers.
I truly didn't think I would like the feeling of sewing my soft scraps of fabric onto crunchy papers. But surprisingly, I did like it! Just goes to show... you just never know what you might like until you try it! I cut my phone book pages into pieces slightly larger than needed, strip pieced several blocks at a time, and then trimmed them to the correct size. I could get 4 blocks from each phone book page. I am using gold scraps instead of orange for this step. 
There are still several more blocks to finish up, but I just had to show some of my blocks with Bonnie's new book String Frenzy which came in the mail this week. I'm so excited to read it and start some new string piecing projects in the new year!
Hop over to the Step #4 link up and see all the blocks being stringed this week.
(Can I actually use "stringed" as a verb?)
Linking up to Let's Bee Social over at Lorna's.
"Stringed" sounds good to me! And with this clue and your new book, you will be stringing for a while it seems.
ReplyDeleteI love using Bonnie's Phone book method for making string blocks. As long as you remember to use a smaller length of stitch th papers tear off very easily at the end. Enjoy making Good Fortune.
ReplyDeleteI'm using a combo of orange and gold and slightly tinted brown if that makes sense. Love seeing the old machines!
ReplyDeleteI like your golden blocks; they will mix well with the other colours I think. If no-one ever used stringed before you've just enlarged the English language! Good for you, Kathy!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya!! This season seems to have come upon me very quickly. So there has been no blogging for this blogger. Still stalking your blog of course, so you are making me feel less bad about not blogging.I haven't been sewing for a couple weeks...yikes! I will have to remedy that in the new year! Give that older machine a chance to soak up that oil and I bet she will run like a top!!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about how you "accidentally" acquire a vintage machine. There's got to be a story there. Using phone book pages does help with string piecing especially when doing larger block sizes when the strings are pieced on the diagonal.
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I was happily surprised that I didn't cringe while stitching on Paper. Sorry Singer Sue had an issue. I haven’t tried stitching on my 301 since I was at a Workshop with Bonnie. My book is coming soon, just like Santa!! Pretty strips under your copy!
ReplyDeleteLovely selection of yellows--I need to get BH's new book--it's on my Amazon wish List this year. hugs, Julierose
ReplyDeleteI think there are lots of quilting terms that are not words in any other setting. :)
ReplyDeleteLovely gold string blocks!
Lovely blocks. I used the phone book method too. Found it easy. But my strip blocks are grey.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love how you are letting all your gals out to play on this mystery quilt! Too much fun! I also received my copy of String Frenzy, and was a tad bit excited! LOL
ReplyDeleteEthel looks like my short-bed tan 301, who was also "born" in 1953. Her name is Sweetness, 'cause she sews so sweetly.
ReplyDeleteLove it when I see quilters using a vintage machine. Me....I have the machines but seldom use them. I do so much hand applique anymore that I am not using a machine nearly as much as in the past.
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