Strings!

I noticed a few weeks ago that my basket of "strings" is overflowing.  Whenever I have a little strip of fabric left, I just throw it in the basket.  Last year I made a Bonnie Hunter pattern, Roll Roll Cotton Boll, which was actually our guild's mystery quilt for 2011-12.  We used our neutral strings to make the alternate blocks.  Well, since I finished that and kept saving strings, my basket looks like this:

Some of the 6" blocks I've been making are in front of the basket, and so far I've got 16.  I make four at a time, and it's a great project when you don't want to start a new project.  I use very thin paper that came from a piece of junk mail as a foundation and then use my 6" square to cut it to size after sewing the strips on.  I hate taking the paper out, and that's why I only do a few at a time.

I noticed there were quite a few long strings in browns and beiges, so I sewed those together and made a few house blocks, too.  I found a pattern in a book by Edyta Sitar, Friendship Strips & Scraps, that combines pieced blocks with appliqued ones.  She seems to favor fusible applique, but I prefer to hand applique, so I have five houses ready for windows and doors.  They are all set for taking along on vacation in a few weeks.  [Dare I point out that I just started another new project!?!]

Today I had to hem some new pants and then I started working on the last two Dresden Plate blocks I started ages ago.  I keep getting side-tracked, though, by a good book - Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.  It's told in emails, letters, and the diary of a 15 year old whose agoraphobic mother disappears.  The odd characters and writing style make it incredibly fun and hard to put down.