Madison's Graduation String Quilt Using Amy Butler Soul Blossoms

I had two graduation quilts to get completed this spring.  This is the second one I'm blogging about today.  My niece Madison, graduates high school this month and this is her quilt to take off to college with her.  Her favorite color scheme contains blues and periwinkles so when I showed her Amy Butler's Soul Blossom collection she said that would be perfect !

I am linking this quilt to Amy's Creative Side Spring 2012 Blogger's Quilt Festival.  

For the pattern I chose a string block technique.  It makes for a beautiful quilt that is full of detail and looks quite complicated when in fact it is pretty simple to put together. I learned a lot while making this quilt.  The technique was new to me and intimidating at first, but once I got going with it, it became easier and much fun to create each block to make it different from the others.  This quilt is very special to me because it is my first quilt to have this much piecing to it! I used fat quarters that I purchased off Etsy shops and cut each fat quarter in multiple widths of 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 3".

After I got them all cut I draped them over my stair railing next to my sewing table and would take off the railing for what I needed one block at a time....

Each block starts with a solid strip in a one inch width.  I kept all center strips the same color using a Kona cotton in periwinkle blue since that is Madison's favorite color.  For my paper piecing, I cut each paper block in a 15" square, then used the ruler markings on my cutting mat to mark a one inch wide path diagonally on each paper block.  I then used a craft glue stick to adhere each periwinkle strip to the paper.  I created each block one at a time.  You could do an assembly line technique if you wanted.

I sewed a strip to each side of the middle strip and then pressed them.  When sewing on the paper you MUST use a tight stitch so you can easily tear the paper off when the block is completed.  I then went back to the sewing machine and added a row to each side again and pressed with the iron again.  From that point on I could finger press the rest of the strips on the block.

As you work your way towards the corners, you trim the strips with scissors while sitting at the sewing machine.  I created a pile to my right and used the trimmings for future blocks as I progressed with the quilt.  After completing a block, I pressed it using lots of steam (click on the pictures to enlarge them)...

Then flipped it over onto my cutting mat and trimmed the excess fabric off the block.  Looking closely at the picture below you can see how the tight stitching perforates the paper and makes it easy to tear the paper strips off.....

I stacked my blocks as I got them trimmed and saved the paper tearing for sitting in front of the t.v. to catch up on my DVR'd shows !!!

After all blocks had the paper removed, I arranged them all on the floor in the order I wanted to sew them together and took one row at a time to the machine.  For the backing of the quilt I used mostly a solid periwinkle with a couple of pieces of coordinating prints to give it a modern look.  I cut my binding in 2.5" strips, stitched to the back and then stitched to the front.  That did not turn out too well for me.  I should have stitched to the front and hand stitched to the back!

Before binding it, I used safety pins to secure the three layers together, then used a free motion meandering technique to quilt it.  I wanted the quilt to really pucker so I kept my meandering tight.  It took much longer but in the end it was totally worth it to see all the wonderful puckering magic after I ran the quilt through the washer and dryer !

Katie went with me to Unity Village in Lee's Summit to get some good photos of this quilt before I get it off in the mail to Madison.  Here's the front......

and the back.........

draped over a park bench.........

A close up showing the hundreds of strips of fabric used in the quilt....

The back is just as pretty as the front........

Look at all the puckering !!!!!   Amazing, and it makes this quilt so warm and cozy to be nestled under!

All rolled up and ready to be put in the mail......

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