With all the things I *should* be doing this week, my mind is continually pulled to my postage stamp quilt. Maybe I just want what I can’t have, because I know I technically can’t start working on it right now. But those fabrics are soooo pretty!!! I keep help wanting to play with them.
Remember how my stash looked like this?
I thought I was doing the smart and right thing by keeping them all mixed up so that when I started sewing, everything would be all random and scrappy. That makes sense, right?
Well, not technically. If you truly want a random quilt, then sure, go all willy nilly. But Mary at The Curious Quilter pointed out that doing things this way could result in all of one type of fabric ending up in one area, despite your best intentions.
And that bugs me a lot. A lot.
So I’m going to go for a controlled-random look!
A few weeks ago, after reading Mary’s advice, I sorted, painstakingly, through all my squares. So far I have just created stacks of like fabrics.
One thing excluded from this shot is my stack of unique squares. I’m going to have to sort them in a different way, and make sure they are distributed around the quilt.
It was nice getting them all stacked like this because I was able to get a feel for what fabrics were going to be most present in the quilt.
I think it’s really a tie between some of my reds and a fabric I dyed orange. (One day I’ll do a post about my dyeing escapades!)
What I plan to do next is to make 4 groupings of fabrics, one for each quadrant of the quilt. And I’ll divide my color stacks amongst those. I still may go as far as to halve each quadrant.
I’ll let you guys know how that goes!
It’s going to look awesome!
Great post thanks for sharing. You have a great layout here. Quilting is something I really enjoy doing. It passes the time and is very relaxing.
LOL, you are MUCH more organized that I am! I just said RED, YELLOW, ORANGE, BROWN, etc and made ten stacks. Tossed those around, split in four each. But hey, if you just draw them randomly out of a bag, I bet it would be pretty too! Isn’t it fun just to PLAY with them though? Just wait, it is even MORE fun to stitch them up.
– Mary, The Curious Quilter
ha, i don’t think i’m quite organized enough… we moved this month, and i can’t find my squares now!! i’m dying to finish sorting so i can start sewing them up, so i guess i’m going to have to go digging 🙂
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How is the progress going???
I just posted my demonstration of assembling one 12.5 inch block of postage stamps and told people to check yours out too!
Mary, The Curious Quilter, who just started on her SIXTH postage stamp quilt
i literally JUST found my squares, about 2 minutes ago! so i’m thrilled to get to start sorting again today 🙂
i can’t believe you’re on your 6th! that’s awesome!! thanks for telling people about mine 🙂
Are you still making postage stamp quilts–i have a top made and want to make another one..hugs, Julierose P.S. i miss that swap, don’t you??
Thanks for reaching out and I’m sorry I’m just seeing all my comments after so many years! I never actually finished one and still pull out the one I started and work on it from time to time! I will finish it one day lol. But yes, the swap was SO FUN!