I think you may have caught a virus. I think you need 200 2.5 inch squares every day for 3 months.

beverly

Oh Rita!!!!! Since you ONLY work on ONE project at a time~you will be wacko if you aren't already ~~LOL~~

If you decide to make one, call on us to help you.

Beverly - really?? Your formula sounds fatal.

The only cure is to make one! You won't go wacko unless you try and make each square different from the other 2000 squares. lol

SharonG/FL-MI

IMO, anyone who makes a Postage Stamp quilt IS wacko! LOL!

Rita, back away from the computer until this passes. Go read a book, bake some cookies, talk on the phone, go for a walk, take a long, luxurious bath - do something else, anything, but get off the computer. If you need a further intervention, just list your city here and we'll try to get a member over to you ASAP.

We're here for you while you try to get over this!
Teresa

Yes, Teresa, I need to get out of here. Yesterday was our 42nd wedding anniversary, DH gave me a $100 gift certificate to Joann's. I need to go and fondle big, beautiful, new bolts of fabric and then agonize over what to buy. This is just too weird, thinking about making a postage stamp quilt is like watching Jesuit monks self-flagellate themselves. I'm trying to think if I've sinned in the quilt realm, the only thing I can think of is The Evil One UFO that still sits on the drafting table that I'm still ignoring. Yes, Magotherivergirl, you are right about me and having more than one project. See what having UFO's do to me?

Well, Rita, you could always make a table topper or something else small...that would probably get it out of your system!

Donna

"thinking about making a postage stamp quilt is like watching Jesuit monks self-flagellate themselves"

Well, it's a good thing I had already swallowed my sip of tea, or I'd have ruined another keyboard spitting it out laughing. That's the best quilting quote for a long time. LOL.

Here is what you do, so you don't have a UFO in process. Put a box next to your machine or cutting table. Each time you get a scrap trim it down to size, drop it in and forget about it. When the box gets full, each time you work on the ONE AND ONLY QUILT YOU WORK ON AND HAVE NO UFOs, then do a few leader and enders and throw them back into the box. Just do it automatically and think of it as throwing the scraps in the rubbish. One day it will be magic..........a large block shall have emerged out of that box. Then another. Then another. Then one day you just sew the few large blocks together and your postage stamp quilt is done and you won't feel flagellated. Nobody should INTENTIONALLY sit down to sew a postage stamp quilt. They should just grow like Topsy. Ask me how I know. ;-)

I don't think a postage stamp quilt is crazy, I wont one.
I do just what Calliope says--I have a bin next to the sewing machine with 1 1/2 in. sqs. and when the urge hits I mak up a few. I have faith that someday they will turn into something. No one ever said a quilt has to be BIG.

I love this one! It could be done over time in sections. I like Nanajayne's idea of keeping a basket and doing a little at a time.

Great use of small scraps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Postage stamp quilt

Dawn, that's a really neat quilt!

Speaking of postage stamps, I just finished a miniature top that has 1" HSTs in it. :) I'll post a picture in a separate thread.

Donna

Calliope & nanajane, you are both geniuses. This sounds like a great way of working on it without really working on it. Now I have to try to tackle The Evil One, I guess. Or maybe I need to vacuum the floor, or fold laundry, or....you know the drill.

Jesuit monks self-flagellate themselves!!!! i lost it on that one ..DH want's to know why I'm walking around laughing to myself...Yes it's the quilters quote of the week! !! too funny...
On a more serious quilters note...what a great idea to throw those itsy bitsy scraps into a basket and sew together once in a while ... someday a postage stamp will emerge! thank you..
V.

I thought I commented on this yesterday but don't see my post. (Sometimes I 'preview' then forget to confirm to actually post the message.)

My suggestion was to make a mini and see if you like it. If you do, keep adding to it until it either gets to the size you want or you get tired of doing it. Add a border to any size and you're done.

But... then I saw the quilt Dawn posted the link to and now I think I'm hooked too. It's gorgeous and I love the way the colors move and flow. I'm going to start that bin of little scraps and whenever I get a bunch in similar colors I'm going to sew them together. Someday I'll have that quilt!

Please, everyone, stop posting good ideas. I can't finish what I've got and every time I see something new or pretty or clever, I get distracted and add another project to the list! (Donna's "Squirrel Effect")

Enablers all!
Theresa

Well...there you go! Virus transmitted. My finger just pushed save bookmark on the link and my brain started thinking about it.

This posting made me laugh. I have been out of town for a week and am catching up.

Speaking of sewing small pieces together, I must tell you a family story. An aunt, who doesn't sew at all, was part of a sampler quilt project for Rebecca Lodge back in the 1930s. The winner of the quilt was the one who could sew the most pieces into one block a given size, about 10" if I remember right. So, she went to her sewing/quilting sister in law and begged her to do it and she did. She got over 160 little pieces into one block and they won the quilt. No one ever knew she didn't do it herself. They signed their blocks and my cousin has that quilt today. Ugly but a real historical piece.

So it can be done.

using the binful of scraps is a great idea. I've been saving my scraps for over a year now, and whenever I want to do some sewing but none of my current projects is calling my name, I start sewing those tiny little squares into pairs. sometimes I really get into it and finish up with an entire block made for my postage stamp quilt. One of these day it'll all come together as a large quilt, and I'll have made it from little bits and pieces of the quilts I've made in the meantime, making it even more special to me!

Since I finished the Texas Star quilt this past weekend, I took the time to tidy up the sewing room. I haven't decided on the next project yet (I'm getting dangerously low on my stash!) There is a great big bag of scrap strips and small scraps in general that I have tossed stuff into. I looked at it and this post came to me. I am now in the process of cutting up bazillions of 2-1/2 inch squares. After re-reading the above posts it looks like I have no rescuers at this site. Is there not one of you that can talk me out of this insanity???

I'm not the one to rescue you... I'm cutting all my scraps into 1.5" squares.

I use 2&1/2 scraps as leaders and enders so I made a lot of scrappy Irish Chains. I never thought of using them for a postage stamp quilt. I like the quilt Dawn posted the link to!