String Quilt

    I finally finished all the blocks for my very first quilt! I used the Valentine design from Elizabeth Hartman's book: The Practical Guide to Patchwork and 6 months, 57 fabrics, several spools of thread, and 62 blocks later here we are!

 
 I was a bit hesitant to start a quilt as I really had never seen a pattern or quilt that I loved.  After some research (that began with an hours stare at the quilting books a joanns) I realized there's sort of a divide between traditional quilters and modern quilters. I was just looking in the wrong places for inspiration.  Once I uncovered a world of brightly colored adventurous patterns I decide the time had come.
   Having a background in sewing I thought a lot of beginner patterns looked a bit easy, and if this turned into the only quilt I'd ever make then I figured I had better go big and try a more challenging  arduous design. 
 I elected to make a string quilt, which used foundation piecing. Meaning I had to sew each strip to it's next door neighbour and piece of paper at the same time.  Not too bad - you do it at the same time so it's not that much extra work.  -BUT- in order to get the paper off later you have to sew at a minuscule stitch length to perforate the paper so it will peel off. 
   So there I sat (or stood when the only place for my machine was on my bathroom counter when I just moved to Texas and Scott and I were living with his parents in a 2 bedroom apartment.)  at a stitch length of 1 sewing 14 lines per block for all 62 blocks. Of course I wasn't working through the night or anything and in fact took weeks off at a time while moving apartments and working on sewing projects that would later become Xmas gifts.   But still it took a long time!
   Most long projects have a way of boring me to death, but I'm pretty pleased with how this is turning out.  Laying all the blocks out together the other night gave me a much needed resurgence.  I have been working on my quilt more regularly now and found a place that will machine quilt it for much less than I've seen elsewhere. Bonus- she lives in the town next door so no shipping fees will be incurred! Woot!
    This has been quite the adventure, but one I'm glad I tried.  While it's much longer and repetitive that sewing garments the final product is huge, intricate, and useful. I think I may have found yet another hobby.