Medina Family

Postage Stamp Quilt"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
-- Vincent Van Gogh

This is a long post but its mostly just for myself...

I was inspired to make a postage stamp quilt at a time when I have no time for such frivolous nonsense. Football season is a time demanding season at our house. Both boys are in school; they both have practices at different times of the day and games on different days of the week plus other commitments that require us to be in three different places all at once. As strange as it may sound, that is exactly why I wanted a long term project. I liked the idea of a project with no pressure to complete or deadline to meet. But I am also the type of person that likes to see a project through to the end and it would give me something to look forward to and to work on. As a mom, there are times when you feel like you are nothing more than a cook, a maid and a ride from one place to another. It’s easy feel taken for granted and burnt out wishing you had time for yourself. I was determined to find a project that allowed me to use up some creative energy and something to look forward to at the end of each day or on the weekends. After I started constructing my quilt, I came across this quote which I love!

"Stop fighting your creative spirit that is struggling to break free inside you. You will not be the person you were meant to be until you free this creative spirit and find ways to put it to use. Freeing your creative spirit will not send you into financial ruin or cause havoc with your life, if you acknowledge the creative side of you and find ways to gradually blend it into your thought process. What will happen is that you will find happiness you didn't know existed and you will become the person you were meant to be."

-- Edward W. Smith, The One Minute Motivator

As I was searching for a quilt to invest my time in I came across one called a postage stamp quilt which consists of thousands of 1” pieces sewed together. It gets its name because the pieces are about the size of a postage stamp. They can be sewn randomly or rearranged into a pattern. I found a color scheme that I really liked and mapped it out the best I could on how to accomplish a similar design (above are the colors I chose to use). I purchased 19 print fabrics and 8 cream/plain fabrics. I then washed, dried and ironed all the fabric. Then came the fun part… no I’m not being sarcastic, I actually enjoy the cutting part although my right thumb is still numb a week and a half later after cutting somewhere around 6,000-7,000 squares in three days (I must have damaged the nerves in my right thumb).

I then organized all the colors and matched them up into color schemes. I store them in sandwich baggies with numbers on them to try to keep everything straight. As I get time, I pull out the baggies and sew the color schemes together, pop the seams then press them.

Here is some quilt math. I want a throw that will measure approx 70"x80". That will take 5,600 individual 1" squares or 1,400 completed 4 patch blocks.

It is going to take a LONG time but its fun to have something to be working on and something to look forward to completing (someday).

Here is an example of a competed 4 patch. As you can see, they are very tiny squares.

More updates to come...

To be continued...