Wednesday, April 19, 2017

If You Can't Lick 'Em Join 'Em


Postage Stamps

I don't think anyone has to lick the ones that go on envelopes anymore. I'm not even sure if my kids remember licking stamps (or envelopes or mailing letters).   Well, my tongue hasn't licked any postage stamps for quite awhile but I'm happy to say I have licked my pile of  fabric postage stamps by joining them and am out of them at the moment.  That hasn't happened in a long, long time. 

I recently participated in a postage stamp swap (as I often do several times a year) and not as many people participated this round as have in the past so I received several duplicates.  And that's okay. I have several postage stamp projects in the works and I don't use strip sets for them.  

And what happened to the 1250 swapped stamps plus those I had on hand already cut? 

I made the last of the 42 blocks I need (upped recently from 36) for my quilt inspired by a vintage quilt on Ebay called Roman Stripe .  I started making the 10 inch blocks several years ago from my scraps as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project and I can't believe I can now start quilt assembly. 

This is the old quilt that inspired me. 



This is the fabric I'm going to use for the sashing.   I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not but I think I like it well enough and don't have anything else in my stash I like better.   I don't have very many big pieces of fabric in my stash anyway.  I think I will make little four patches in red and blue for the cornerstones but that may change.   I'm also thinking the sashing will be 2.5 wide (2 inch finished). 


I also made up some 36 patch blocks and some single rows of 6 so I could proceed to make more... 




...blocks like this...

...for my 42-Cents Forever Stamps quilt.   
(From 19th - Century Patchwork Divas' Treasury of Quilts)



I also made more blocks for my Plain Brown Wrapper quilt. I need to count how many I have. I've been making them for years from my brown/cream/tan scraps.   I just noticed I sometimes made 36 patches and sometimes 49 patches. Strange.  I don't know what I was thinking.     I also made a block for a neutral quilt which will not just consist of postage stamps but other neutrals. 


And I made some blocks for Gray Areas.  I need to count these too.  


And then I made a bunch of 3 inch nine patches for my Jack's Chain quilt. 


And if you'd like to swap some little nine patches...


9 comments:

Linda said...

So busy! Don't know how you fit everything in to a 24 hour day. Love how you squirrel away blocks for so long until you finally have sufficient for a complete quilt.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

neat!! I am glad to report I am almost finished with mine, quilting should be done in about a week

Janie said...

You're so productive, I'm getting excited!
Classic and scrappy are catchy.
Thanks for being so inspiring.
It's funny how you said, 'I just noticed I sometimes made 36 patches and sometimes 49 patches. Strange. I don't know what I was thinking.'
I can relate to that, I too have wondered over things I've done,
'Strange. What was I thinking?'
Have a great day, Cathy.

---"Love" said...

I simply do not understand how you get so much done! ---"Love"

margaret said...

certainly you have used teeny weeny tiny scraps for these blocks, I like making scrap things but not that small!

Julierose said...

Love the roman stripe idea--I didn't do postage stamp this year--I STILL have a bin of 2.5" squares to use up..they are my leader enders--sewing twosies right now...you are SO darn prolific--I have a vision in my mind of whirlwind sewing going on there--Phew! You go girl..hugs, Julierose (aka the s l o w
sewer lol)

gayle said...

Oh,my! You're making me want to slice up my entire stash into 1.5" squares!

audrey said...

Some of my favorite shapes to work with! Always full of inspiration around here and I love the old quilt that started a spark for one of your great quilt ideas!

Ann said...

Postage Stamp quilts are wonderful and I like your variations. The original antique quilt could also be a Chinese Coin variation. There are so many ways to vary these blocks, aren't there?