Radiant Strings Quilt

I have been going through a rough patch for the last year or so where my Sewjo just wasn't anywhere to be found. Quite a few of my friends have also seen a lack of motivation in themselves to sit at their sewing machines lately too. I knew I needed something to help me find it... And help my friends.

What better way than to have a swap... A string block swap! We had a total of 41 participants from all over the United States and Canada and even a few in Europe and New Zealand!

 We started in the beginning of September 2021 and swapped for two months. What a wonderful two months that was, seeing everyone posting pictures of their string blocks!!

I was left thinking of how I wanted to use my string blocks. 

One morning, I came across an image of a brown and black radiant quilt - and I knew that was what I was going to do with my string blocks.

I got to work and I drew up a couple of variations...

My first thought was to use an Ombre/Gradient fabric for my large triangles... 

Then I thought: I want it larger...

Then I wondered about adding different colors....

And finally - the current quilt top that was on my longarm frame at the time of designing was a rainbow colored top... Yep, I think this works!!!

I couldn't leave it at that... I had to test my design and write it up. I just knew my mom was looking for a cool layout too!

My tutorial is on how to make one of the blocks - with yardage amounts included for a 76" x 88" size quilt.

My original plan was to make the larger quilt. Once I started cutting into my fat quarter bundle (one that was passed on to me), I saw that quite a few of the pieces were already cut into. 😔

Bummer! I just didn't have enough matching fabric... I was barely able to scrape enough together to make the center blue 'square'. I did use the leftovers from the fat quarters and made a nice border. 💚 This smaller version measures about 55" x 55".

My mom started on her quilt. Of course, she cannot make a small quilt. She had a total of 64 string blocks to use, so I drew out a quilt that ended up 100" x 100". 

Mom has been sharing her progress with me and it has been absolutely the coolest thing ever seeing this quilt come together. I'm so excited about it, I had to share it with you.

I would like to send a huge shout out to all the swappers who made this such a fun event - AND also all those who followed along. I hope this helped many like it did me.

Click here to download quick directions on how to make Radiant Strings block by Paco Rich.

If you come across some issues that could be better explained, please let me know. 

Click here to download a tutorial for Building Paper Pieced String Blocks by Paco Rich.

These tutorials are NOT "free" by any means - it took quite a bit of time and effort on my part to put them together. They are available for you to use. I only ask that you do not copy and/or reproduce these tutorials, either digitally or in printed form. If you would like to share, share the link to this web page so that your friends can download a copy for themselves:
http://pjscraftycreations.blogspot.com/2021/11/radiant-strings-quilt.html

Thank You!!