If you’re a regular reader here you know that I typically have several projects going on at once. Â I SQUEEZE time in where ever I can and that often means having project fit into my life style. Â I’ve been getting up 45 minutes earlier each day so I have time to sew. Â I’ve alternating the time between something I have to sew and something I want to sew simply because. Â So I might sew on something that has to be sewn for 35 minutes and the last 10 minutes I’ll sew something I want to sew.
The something I want to sew lately has been my Santa Fe String Star.
I’m not super serious about working on it but I am enjoying the 10 minutes here and there.
The pattern suggests cutting the diamond shapes from phone book paper and then stringing them. Â Then cutting them down to the size of the paper. Â I tried that but I thought the phone book papers were kind of flimsy and hard to cut accurately if I was trying to cut a couple at once so I’ve been making my diamonds just a little different and I’ll show you how.
First off I traced and then cut out a diamond the size it says in the book.
Then I cut a rectangle of phone book paper that was slightly bigger than the diamond. Â From there I did the string piecing. Â I know that the rectangle doesn’t need to be completely covered at the ends and piece accordingly.
Once I have a stack of papers sewn I bring them to the downstairs sewing spot and put them there. Â On a good day with childcare I might get 15 minutes at nap time to myself. Â That’s when I’ll pull these out again and trim them. Â I LOVE my turning rotary cutter mat for this. Â It is amazing and works wonderfully. Â (thanks to the kind blog reader that gifted it to me-I love it for this!)
I place a straight edged ruler along the side of the diamond and cut with the rotary cutter. Â I cut top and bottom on the right- spin and do top and bottom that were on the left.
There I have my diamond.
Now these all go in a zip lock bag in the downstairs laundry room. Â One day when Hubby says we’re going somewhere I’ll grab them and rip the papers off while he drives to the destination.
The method I use gets the same string diamond result. Â It just works a little better for me and I feel like I don’t have to carefully cut the diamonds twice this way….once for the paper and then once again to cut to size.
I’m really enjoying this project…with my slow method you can easily see it’s going to be some time before I actually get the quilt done but that’s okay. Â I am enjoying the process.
That’s an amazing pattern! What book is it in?
LOVE that quilt….I have started one recently. Can’t wait to see yours colours when it’s finished. :)
I love that idea. I have some diamonds cut from phone paper but wasn’t convinced on their sturdiness at the ends. Using a template of the diamond to cut from a rectangle of strings will be much better.
Thanks for a very simple, but extremely helpful hint.
I will definitely try your tip on Bonnie’s patterns.
Very smart tip. That makes so much sense!
Love this ideal. Thanks for the great tip. Love reading your blog.
I can’t believe how much you get done in found time! I loved seeing all of your in progress Bonnie Hunter quilts. It made me feel better about my works in progress, I’m also so glad to know that the rotating mat is working for you. I never used it and knew as soon as I read that you wanted one that I should send it off to someone who would use it.
What a great tip for sewing then cutting your diamond shapes – thanks for sharing :)
An excellent method/tip that I may have to try myself. But not until after I have completed the Scrap Dance Mystery Quilt that I am assembling the top right now, then a Double Wedding Ring Quilt, two special Ufo’s from a few years ago and then a well the list goes on….LOL. I just love being a quilter there are so many wonderful projects that I want to do. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. Have a wonderful creative day!
Love the fabrics! Thank you for the great idea….