String Fever: Stacks & Stacks
Strip scraps (long, narrow pieces of fabric) lend themselves to a series of tried-and-true classic styles like log cabins, coin quilts and the simple string block. I thought it would be fun to start off my weekly series on string ideas with something a little more modern, a little unexpected.
When surfing my Patchwork Pinterest board and Flickr Favorites, I came across these examples of the Stacked style. In this case, strings are stacked continuously across the quilt, in blocks or long rows with jagged edges. It's simple, but effective.
This beauty is by Svetlana at S.O.T.A.K. handmade in conjunction with the Trust Circle of do. Good Stitches. It's the Stacked style in its simplest form. It looks like they cut strip scraps to a standard width and then added white on either side of each strip to bring each one up to the width of the columns. To avoid measuring, you could sew longish white strips to either side and then trim to the desired length once strips are sewn together to make a block. Use white trimming scraps for future blocks!
Turned the other way, and aligned at one end, the Stacked style looks just like books. This Bookshelf Quilt was made by Beth Ward for a retiring librarian. How perfect is that?
I'm in love with this bookshelf-esque quilt, which reminds me of something from Emily Cier's Scrap Republic (which we talked about during last year's Scrap Attack). This particular quilt was made by readers at The Last Piece to commemorate someone special and the design is in Sarah's new book, Hand Quilted With Love
. It was inspired by the bass lines on a stereo. It's such a great way to use a bunch of colorful scraps. Bringing them all in line at one side creates a sense of order despite the wild colors! 
You can also intentionally and evenly stagger the stacked strips to create a staircase effect. I made this block for a Faith Circle project. Looks like a rainbow sound wave?
Along the same lines is this uber-cool pillow block by Jessica at A Little Gray. Don't you adore how she used low-volume prints for the background? Yes! Yes! You can make diagonal joins much in the same way that we join binding strips. I'm sure there's other faster methods too, involving cutting a stack of strips on the diagonal. If you know a tutorial, share the link!
Jessica was actually inspired by this patchwork created by Cinzia of deux petites souris. Cinzia had shared this in the Scrap Attack flickr group during our last Scrap Attack and both Jessica and I pinned it. Great minds! Cinzia constructed hers in blocks, which is more user-friendly for a large quilt. So pretty!
Alrighty then, I hope that puts your mind a spinning! Do you have something in process? You're invited to share your String Fever work-in-progress at the Flickr group. Which reminds me, I need to go visit....