Wednesday, July 2, 2014

2¢ Stamp

More than once I've been chastened that what I was making was not a postage stamp quilt - that the squares for that had to be 1" finished. So even though I've seen plenty of stamps larger than 1" square, I figured I better play it safe and name mine after the 2" squares they are . . . thus the 2¢ Stamp quilt. {In all honestly, thanks go to Rozina on Instagram for that clever name. I like it.}
Originally I had intended to make the quilt top completely out of 2 1/2" squares, as I had gathered plenty - about 1200.
I started out by fusing my squares onto very lightweight interfacing, a la the tutorial from feeling crafty, making 4x6 square 'blocks'.
No offense. I think it's an ingenious technique and has its place, but it was the pressing interfaced seams open that got me, and after a while, I decided to quit forcing myself and finish the quilt up baby-size (48" square).

Luckily, I had just ordered some interweave chambray from imagine gnats and the "buttercup" suited both the scrappy palette and the texture of the blocks. I quilted in a grid on one side of each square, continuing into those borders, with an Aurifil 50wt #2130 (medium butter - I think there's a theme here!) that was subtle but sweet. Binding is a stash find by Sandy Gervais, which reminded me of the good ole days when every binding was a stripe.

So I tried something new, and at the very least have another finish from my Q2 Finish-A-Long list, and a pretty little quilt to stash away. Fair enough.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.

19 comments:

  1. It's lovely and yup, just sew those squares together the usual way, they will come out quite nice in the end.

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  2. It's beautiful! I've been saving scraps for something similar but using the 1" squares. Now I'm rethinking that idea :)

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  3. I absolutely LOVE this, Debbie! It's completely darling and right up my alley!!

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  4. It's beautiful and the quilting is lovely!

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  5. Been collecting 21/2 in squares too.. I do love the floating effect in your quilt, very striking! Think I will showing you my admiration with a close copy...lol

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  6. Great name! I also make the 2 cent version of the postage stamp, its a great way to use up scraps!

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  7. So cute! There is a colour exercise where you put a bunch of 1 1/2" random squares into a brown bag and yank them out and piece them together one at a time without any rearranging - you piece what you pull next! It was part of a popular workshop series up here for a few years. People started calling it the "what the heck can I border this with?" quilt. I think you've chosen a perfect border for yours!!

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  8. I just finished the top of my 2-1/2" squares...21 sq x 21 rows...421 squares! Whew! Now on to the quilting...I'm not as fast as you girl! Looks great, as always :)

    www.sewcraftychick.blogspot.com

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  9. It's lovely. I like how you've taken the rows out into the border in the quilting. xxx

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  10. So pretty! You have gorgeous scraps in your stash!

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  11. don't listen to the critics - 2" squares are plenty small enough and still a postage stamp quilt. I have a 90" square postage stamp quilt with 2" finished squares stagnating in my WIP pile, so I completely understand how tedious they can get. Love the 'butter' theme with your quilt colors :) congrats on another great finish off your finish-a-long list.

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  12. mmmmm....who knew?? I always thought a postage stamp quilt WAS made out of 2 1/2 inch squares!! Thats my 2cents worth Haha!

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  13. I love your 2-cent stamp quilt...and the name is brilliant! Aren't friends with insight such a blessing :o)

    One of the things I love about how you blog is your up-front, honest, straight-forward dealing with critizism...maybe that's too harsh a word?? You have a wonderful way of addressing it right up front and it's refreshing because instead of getting pulled into mud slinging as is so often done (unfortunately!)you point out that differences of opinion exist and it's perfectly okay to "Agree to disagree."

    Thank you for modeling this so tactfully :o)

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  14. What a great quilt! The buttercup weave complements your colorful stamps perfectly. I made a pillow top from 196 1" squares, my first and last 1" square project....I love it but don't have the ambition to make an entire quilt. I'm a huge fan of 2" squares and your pretty quilt exemplifies it :)

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  15. What a great quilt! I love a postage stamp quilt! So much so that I made a queen size for my daughter, a double size for my grand daughter and a queen size for me....then I discovered the fusible! With that I made a small "Trip around the World"...Mine is worn out now, need to make another!

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  16. I love your 2cent stamp quilt! I am totally embracing this plan.

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  17. Debbie, you could say you put your 2 cents in, LOL. The buttercup border turns your postage stamps into a whole new quilt and looks marvelous!

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  18. Love that "modern" border on an old time favorite. All those pieces hold the memories! I've done a couple, and you've made me want to start another with some fabrics other than the traditional ones I used.

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