String Theory postcards

So this is my last series of postcards for my Art2Mail fabric postcard exchange. I had planned to do another series of silhouettes over solid backgrounds, but none of my ideas were working out as I'd hoped and I was getting frustrated so I decided instead just to go in completely the opposite direction.

This last grouping is called 'String Theory' for two reasons. First, this is string quilting - strips (or strings) of fabric sewn one onto the next. Quite typically, they're made of squares where the strings are on the diagonal, and then you sew them into boxes. (Like in this example.) The second reason they're called String Theory is that I was watching Season One of Criminal Minds as I worked on these cards and I happened to be watching... Derailed, which is an episode with a schizophrenic unsub, and Reid starts talking to him about String Theory. So there the name was.

In any case, one of my favourite string quilts that I've ever seen online, well, I can't find now, but it was done in long strips with horizontal strings, so this first postcard is kind of an homage to the gorgeous quilt. Someday I'll do a full-size quilt the same way, but probably far off in the future.

As I was making this card out of primaries, I got stuck on the idea of grouping my colours together, so I had one stack of red scraps, one of blues, one of yellows, greens, purples, browns, black/whites, oranges. Which is more or less what you'll see in the following cards.

This card makes me think of spring with so much green. Everyone who has seen this card remarked on how it looks like a row of fields or maybe lawns.

I really love this card. I know so many quilters who don't like to use browns but I'm such a fan of them. Of course, I nearly never use them either - who knew I had so many brown scraps? Some of these though I'd bought for particular projects - one I think was part of a lion's body in a Griffindor pillow I'd made, and the one with the slightly reddish/coppery spirals was definitely used as the lion's mane.

This is probably least like a string quilt, since it really wound up a bit more like a free-form log cabin. Anyway, I think it's quite pretty.

And then finally this, my least favourite of the series. I'd had an idea about working in a rainbow, but I'm not at all happy with the execution. I'd sort of planned to alternate with all blacks on one side and all whites on the other, but then I didn't have enough black scraps and I wound up combining them, but meh. Should have stuck with a single colour. I guess.