Postage stamp progress

Can I just say that I am thrilled with how this is going so far? It's unbelievably tedious and really slow going, but I think I am going to love it after it's all done.

As mentioned previously, I have really started working in earnest on my postage stamp charm quilt. I really hadn't taken the time to layout any of the finished blocks until last night, and am really loving how this looks. Good lord though, I really need a design wall!



This is nowhere near done. So far, this photo includes almost all my turquoise, orange, black and black & white blocks. I still have more pink, red, purple and yellow blocks to sew. And I haven't even sorted my blues, greens, browns and whites/beiges. I'm thinking this is going to turn out huge.

I'm also still not sure on how to arrange all the blocks. Anyone have any ideas? One of the dilemmas is that the amounts of the colors is really varied. Since it's all scraps, I have a lot more of some colors, like blue and green, than I do others like yellow and orange. I'm open to suggestions!

Where do I come up with this stuff?

I often find myself knee-deep in insane craft projects. The kind that take infinite patience and require a little bit of delusional behavior. What can I say, I tend to be a glutton for punishment.

Take my postage stamp quilt, for instance. This project has been years in the making. I think the last time I even mentioned it here was back in February of 2009. And at that stage, I had already been working on this quilt for years.

Anyway, I spent all day - and I mean all day, from like 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. with just a few short breaks - sorting through the huge pile of 1.5-inch squares that I've amassed. I am pretty sure that I have now gotten squares cut out of just about every piece of fabric I own and all the scraps I've collected, even those I picked up at quilt camp earlier this month.

Here's a little look at the most recent pile of cut squares:



After I finished catching up on all my cutting, I started the sorting process, which is really overwhelming and can drive anyone into a nightmare of OCD. Basically, I have each color separated into a different Ziploc bag. I then lay out all the squares of one color, trying to keep them arranged from light to dark. And then the hard part: making sure I don't have doubles.

This. Is. Impossible.

I've already found a few fabrics that have made it into more than one block, but there's no way I'm going to tear them apart just to fix that. I hope that after the quilt is together no one will ever notice.

Here's a look at some of the medium red squares.



I got through most of the colors today, but still have a few left to do, including two of the worst - green and blue - just due to the fact that I seem to have more of those colors than any others. I'd really like to get going sewing these blocks together again soon. I am still not sure how I'll lay the quilt out, but I hope to have some design ideas to try out soon.

I have to admit that I am really, really curious about where I'm at collection-wise. It seems like I have a ton of squares since I've been collecting them for years, but since they're only 1.5 inches, I know I'll need a lot to make a decent size quilt.

A test of my patience

I've been working on a postage stamp quilt for years. I've been cutting 1.5" squares out of any quilting fabric I get my hands on. I've been trying to make it a true charm quilt, where my goal is to use only one square of each fabric. Working on this project is definitely a labor of love; it's taking FOREVER.

I got little bits out of fabric my mom has and cut 1.5" squares out of every piece of fabric I buy. I also am the scrap disposal system of most of my quilting friends. They give me their little odds and ends they don't want anymore ... I love this! It's like Christmas every time I get them. I have so much fun sorting through all the scraps and finding treasures. I've also been known to dig for good stuff through the discards at quilt camp ... some people throw away some really big pieces!

I've been collecting blocks for the longest time, and about 6 months ago I thought I knew exactly how I wanted to put them together. After keeping them separate into large Ziploc baggies by color, I would lay them all out and then try to fish out the multiples I had. After doing this for days, it was very satisfying to put all my pieces into a large bag and mix all the colors together.

I started sewing them together into a pattern that was sort of like an Irish Chain, but then I really wasn't fond of how it was turning out. Plus, I lost a lot of them after the bags of fabric got lost after quilt camp. Ugh. So frustrating!

So I decided to start over. I resorted all the pieces into color groups and then shades of the colors. Now I've been spending time off and on sewing the squares into nine patches that are organized by color. I love how they are turning out so far, but boy, is this a slow process. I now have 97 nine patches done. It sounds like a lot, but really they only finish to 3 inches square, so this is going to take a while.

Here are what a few look like:





I recently got some fresh scraps from some friends and I also am off my fabric buying diet (I don't seem to be that great at diets in any form!), so now I'm cutting again. I'm also cutting 2.5" squares of all the fabrics that are large enough for my friend Natalie. I'm sure she'll finish her quilt before I do!