String Pieced Applique an Electric Quilt Tutorial

String Pieced Applique

2/18/2017

I cut a lot of strips when piecing my quilts. Trust me -- a lot! And somehow at the end of the project I always seem to have leftover pieces. Now I know that some of you may throw those pieces away -- but I have a special cabinet (and a few storage containers) that stores those strips for future projects. They are even somewhat stored by width. With the key word being somewhat.

My storage drawers are full and I really need to do something with those strips. I have been toying with a string quilt -- but I wanted something a little different.

So I decided to try string pieced circles. In part 1 of the Electric Quilt video tutorial I will share how I created a string pieced motif.

I am still working on a quilt to incorporate this block/motif -- which I hope to share with you next week.

What would you do with these circles?

If you send me a photo, I would be happy to share your ideas as well next week.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

Electric Quilt Academy - Ohio

Three day in person, instructor-led workshop allowing participants to deep dive into the Electric Quilt subject of their choice. I will be teaching the drawing tools and participants will become proficient in:

Easy Draw blocks
Paper Piecing blocks
Applique
Pieced PatchDraw tools (including hexagons, pentagons, LeMoyne stars plus variations, Dresdan plates)

I will also include layouts to complement each of the blocks!

You will be amazed at how much you can learn in this concentrated setting away from life's distractions.

Cost: $300

Learn more here.

MN Quilt Show - Duluth

I am very excited to be teaching at the MN Quilt Show in Duluth. Duluth in June is absolutely gorgeous and a great place with lots of things to do (for the non-quilter in the family). And MN Quilters always has a fabulous show.

To learn more about any of my classes (detailed below) or the show in general, check out the Minnesota Quilt Show website.

Art and Stitch - Thread Art Wednesday, June 7

Never be limited to purchased designs again. Art and Stitch will allow you to finally translate your creativity to beautiful designs. Learn how to use this powerful digitizing software by creating a series of string art designs that are suitable for both computerized long arm and embroidery machines. Not sure if digitizing is for you? You can download a trial version of Art and Stitch that can be used in class. You will be able to do all the exercises with the trial version (but will be unable to save them). Level: Beginner

Mystery Quilt - Thursday , June 8

Have you always wanted to solve a good mystery? Or maybe you enjoy the suspense of a book or movie where you don't know the outcome until the end.

This mystery event will have you working through clues throughout the day as you guess the pattern that I have designed just for MN Quilters. There will be lots of clues throughout the event -- that will hopefully keep you guessing unti the end.

Introduction to Easy Draw (an Electric Quilt Class) - Thursday Evening, June 8

Have you ever found the “perfect” block online. But then realized you wanted to piece it a different way. Maybe you want rotary cutting instructions or a foundation pattern. Or maybe you want a different size to incorporate into a different quilt.

With Electric Quilt you can redraft these blocks. This class will focus on how to “read a block” and then come up with the most efficient way to draft it with Electric Quilt.

The blocks in this class are those that can be done in a “grid” format – basically just like drawing with a pencil and graph paper. Within Electric Quilt these blocks are drafted within Easy Draw.

Level: Advanced Beginner.

Electric Quilt T Shirt Quilts - Friday morning, June 9

Are you afraid to cut into a bundle of T Shirts? Take away that fear by designing your quilt before you make your first cut.

Three different layouts will be covered along with tips on auditioning your T Shirts in Electric Quilt. One of those layouts will incorporate using pieces and different size T Shirts (think Custom Set).
Level: Intermediate

Working Through Quilting Design Paralysis – How I Choose to Quilt My Tops Lecture - Friday 2:00, June 9

Introduction to Electric Quilt 7 - Saturday, June 10

This class will cover basic navigation of the software, creating a new project, using the libraries, using Quick Quilts for fast projects, adding borders, coloring tools/fabrics, creating quilt labels and printing quilts, blocks, fabric yardage estimates, rotary cutting and foundation patterns. By the end of class you will be comfortable working with the program and be able to explore additional features on your own. Users of all levels are welcome, with special emphasis on beginners.

Happy quilting.

Kari

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Laura Nagel

2/18/2017 07:13:56 am

Kari, thanks for posting the info about your MQ classes in Duluth. Appreciate you spreading the word. See you in June if not before. Laura

Mary Fogg

2/18/2017 10:13:38 am

I have made string hearts and them put them on a plain block, mixed with other blocks to make quilts for charity. The circles would work also

Susan Melgaard link

2/18/2017 05:18:50 pm

Thank you for the strip pieced circle information I found it very interesting. From doing many strip quilts I will say that using very narrow strips is difficult especially if they should end up on the edges. By the time you add in the 1/4 inch seam allowance those edges can almost disappear.
Thanks for adding your class schedule for MPQS too.

Lilia

2/19/2017 08:21:25 pm

I've seen lots of string pieced quilts over the years. I think there was a very old one done in tulip shapes- - -I've never tried one. It was interesting to see how you went about creating it all in EQ7. I'd never thought of doing that before. Thanks for sharing.
First thing that came to my mind was a bunch of balloons. Now I'm even picturing the house in the movie "UP." Giggle or create a quilt that you could play Twister on.
You could make dominoes. I definitely look forward to seeing what my terrific teacher comes up with. I bet it will leave some prime real estate for longarm quilting! I will definitely tune in next week.

2/19/2017 08:37:55 pm

Hey, me again, if you did something like dominoes, you could avoid turning under the circle edges by just stitching with raw edges to the quilt or blocks and then placing the darker squares or rectangles over them and doing reverse applique by cutting out the dark circle area to reveal the strippy circles. That might be doable. Turning under so many seams would be a bit too crazy for me to want to try otherwise.
I can also see the circles as balls or marbles running down or along strips and as they roll, rotate the circles an eighth or quarter turn so it makes the strips turn and give the appearance of rolling- - -aaaaa my imagination is getting way too excited here so I think I will wait and see what you come up with. Feel free to use any of my ideas if it helps stimulate your creativity Kari. You've given us so much over the years, I don't mind giving back.

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