A Tale of Two String Blocks...

So as y'all know I started a new job last week - hold up, for those of you who might be a little new around these parts (welcome guys!) I graduated with my Masters of Information in June and had been working part-time at one of my University's libraries but finally landed a full time gig as a Media Librarian at the CBC, woot! Okay, so I started last Tuesday and wanted to pretty up my desk a bit; I thought bringing a giant quilt and displaying it on the wall might be a bit much for some of my co-workers (although I did talk about my quilt designs and being President of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild in my interview) so I decided on making myself a pretty new coaster instead. It was late and I was a little tired after my first day and thought to myself  "Hey! You have some extra completed string blocks sitting around from that tutorial that you wrote, why don't you use one of those to start?"... so I did.

Sorry that the picture isn't the greatest - I forgot to take a picture of the coaster when it was finished and ended up taking this one at work...with my iPod...under nasty fluorescent lighting. I basically used this coaster tutorial that I wrote but stuck with the dimensions I used for the original block tutorial.

Anywho, so after making the coaster I thought that since I had all the blocks out anyways I should lay out the quilt I had in mind so that I could decide on block placement...you guys have to know where this is going, right? I WAS ONE BLOCK SHORT!! Oh ya, totally nailed that one! I knew I had made at least one or two extra blocks and was wracking my brain trying to figure out what happened and then I remembered this...

That's right, a few months ago I used one of the extra blocks to make ANOTHER coaster as part of a swap (and of course didn't actually it on the blog either), oy!

So now I am a block short for my quilt - luckily they don't take that long to make and my "string bag" is full of cut strips already. Oh wait, have I never mentioned the string bag to you guys?! I started the string bag when I first started making these blocks; I use one of the totes (the tote on top here to be specific) that I was given at Quilt Market year before last and have it filled with strips of fabric ranging from 1"-2.5" in width that I slice off of scraps, fat quarters, and yardage at random when I buy/use them.

Anywho, so yes, that is what I have to do - make another block! I don't actually have any plans for the quilt when it is finished as everyone I know is having boys right now and the blocks are very, very pink. Actually I'm thinking that I'll put it in the shop and save the money (if it sells) to go towards next year's Sewing Summit. Unfortunately I couldn't go this year since I was lacking the funds - spending my birthday in SLC with everyone would have been so, so fun too!

Oh, by the way, do you guys remember my Colour Block Cross quilt? It's this one...

Since I've had a few requests for a pattern or tutorial I was thinking about doing a quilt along for it here on the blog. What do you think? Is that something anyone would be interested in? Let me know and if there's enough interest I'll do it!