Amie's Postage Stamp Quilt - Grande Finale

Faithful readers of this blog will most certainly remember the wonderfully uplifting story of Amie's Postage Stamp Quilt. I first introduced it here. It is fun to read about the quilt in its infancy - way back in April of 2010.

Then, I brought you updates. In August of 2011, Amie had completed 15 blocks. In August of 2013, she was over halfway finished with 33 blocks completed. Then the big incredible story came in April 2015: Amie's avalanche of donated fabric from quilters all over the country. Finally, Amie shared her finished quilt top in July of 2015. So, with all that steady work over the course of 5 or so years, we now can see the grand finish!

This picture shows the massive label turned back on the quilt. Look at that backing fabric! Stamps! What a perfectly fun, playful choice. And notice that black binding - doesn't it look great? Amie had this to say about the label:

"I have really struggled with the label.  There were just so many names to include and then I wasn't sure how to attach it once it was finished.  I am a little iffy with labels.  I hate just writing on the back but I also hate having to stitch something down. More times than not my quilts go unlabeled.  So anyway, in the past I have used the computer fabric sheets you can buy so I got a package of those.  Over the course of a day or two I worked on typing up something that looked pleasing.  Then I got the names typed and double checked those. Printed it out but then still needed to decide how to attach it.  I have noticed when using those sheets before over time with washing they tend to fade.  I am not one of those quilters that makes quilts to look at.  Mine are used and washed!  Over the weekend I had a brainstorm.  Make the label like a pillow with no stuffing and then add buttonholes so it can be removed when the quilt is washed -viola!  You can hardly notice four little thread tacks on the front of my quilt where I attached the buttons. I am quite pleased with it." 

Here is a closer look; if you know you are looking for buttons, you can see them. Without knowing, though, you would likely be none the wiser.

 In addition to finishing this magnificent quilt, Amie has also finished scrapbooking about this amazing effort - it took 2 scrapbooks!

Here's what Amie said about her scrapbooks: "I also completed my scrap books.  It took two of them.  What a keepsake! ...  I ended up with 160 packages from 135 people in 37 states.  I was most excited to get the one package from Alaska.  I still wish I would have gotten something from out of the US."  

Amie has washed her quilt using 2 color-catchers. She knew laundering the quilt was necessary since it spent much time on floors being laid out, and since so many fabrics came from so many places; she reports that the color-catchers came out pretty dark. Good thinking on her part; I doubt I would have thought of that.

This quilt saga is complete. Isn't it a satisfying story? I still marvel at the generosity of those donors, as well as Amie's determination to finish all aspects of this endeavor- from quilt to label to scrapbooks. Wow. What a great story for Amie to share with her friends and family, and for them to share across the generations. And thank you, dear Amie, for allowing me share it here!

Hope you all have a great Sunday!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Celebrate!

You know that song by Kool and The Gang called Celebration? Well, imagine that is playing in the background while you read this post.

Amie has finished her postage stamp quilt top! And I do hereby pronounce that as a reason to celebrate! I am sure Amie was doing a little happy dance when she clipped that last thread off the machine. She posted both to Facebook and an email to me to announce the good news.

Is it not gorgeous?!?! What a labor of love, and what a varied and interesting story behind its construction. Here is part of Amie's email with the final statistics from on this heirloom.

 I really can't believe I did it. It was a lot of fun to sort through all the scraps and pick out what to use for the last blocks.  It might be a Postage Stamp quilt, but I find it to also be an I-Spy quilt.  I really did a lot of fussy cutting.  You can find all kinds of things when you take some time and really study it.   You can also find several fabrics sewn in wrong side up - oops! 

Here are my final stats:

56 12-inch blocks

8064 little 1-inch squares (some more square than others!)

fabric donated by 13 friends and family

AND 132 Grit readers from 37 states

around 4 years to complete (huge time lapses when I didn't work on it or I had other projects to work on)

3 big tubs of leftover fabrics

Of course even though I am calling it a finish, it still needs to be quilted and bound.  I want to find a wide quilt back for it since it has so many seams already.  If you were binding it would you keep with the scrappy-ness and piece a binding of many fabrics or would you select a solid binding to calm the chaos?  I've gone back and forth trying to decide.

Look at how far the drop is on this side; I have to believe she centered it on the bed. What a nice size.
What do you readers think about a scrappy binding? Or should she use one solid binding? Please share your recommendations and thoughts on the matter here, so that Amie can use the input to make her decision.

Amie had additional news and info to share in her email:

As for as the leftover scraps, my mom and sister are spending the day next Saturday and we are going to start piecing the Gypsy Wife quilt.  The pattern calls for 60 assorted fabric strips.  I've got that covered! 

A lot of people sent fabric that they had cut into various sized squares, mostly 2 or 2 1/2 inch.  I have separated those out into a separate container to make baby quilts to donate to an organization I belong to that makes warm weather items for the homeless.  Last year I think we donated around 10,000 hats, scarves, baby blankets and lap robes. Check out the website: knittingcrochetingministry.jimdo.com

On another note, today the sailboat quilt was given to my friend at her baby shower.  I am happy to report that it got rave reviews.  The baby will be named Noah, so little boats were very appropriate.  It's funny to me that non-quilters always want to know how long it took to make.

To see the sailboat quilt, you can click here. To see previous posts about Amie and her amazing project, do a search over in the search box.

Today, I am off for a day of sewing at my friend Terry's. I hope to have a work shirt finish to share with you tomorrow.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

An Amie Update

I wonder how many of you might remember this??

If you guessed progress on the postage stamp quilt that my friend Amie is working on, then you would be correct. Her recent email informs me that she is over halfway done.

Her succinctly worded note: "After wrapping up a few other projects it is my main focus for the summer.  I have recently completed my 33rd block and thought I would share a pic with you.  It is more than halfway complete!"

In addition to myself, several other of her quilter friends are sending her scraps, and from these she is attempting to use as many different fabrics as possible in this quilt. Won't this look spectacular?

I have written before about Amie's postage stamp quilt. If you click here and here you will be able to follow the progress.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Two-Topic Day

wo topics occupy my agenda today. First, I have been waiting to tell you about some very fun packages I've recently received in the mail. Second, I need suggestions on possible recycling ideas for an item.

It has been way too long since I've gotten any squishy packages in the mail. This is due in large part to my commitment to use from the stash. I've done pretty well with this goal, but I did have to break down and order this fat pack of Moda fabric from Green Fairy Quilts.

Panier de Fleurs by French General was just too beautiful to resist. So I found a great deal online and took the plunge. I really have been exercising restraint when it comes to buying more fabric, so I felt this was okay since it was 30% off. I'd looked at lots of the new lines of fabrics just out or due out, and this is the one I wanted most of all. ~~total bliss~~

Don't you agree that it was truly irresistible?

Another day brought another goodie. Awhile back I wrote about my friend and former student Amie who is making a postage stamp quilt - no repeats in fabric. She needs scraps, and lots of them! So a fellow Ohioan, Melissa, sent me a baggie-full of scraps she'd recently amassed. You can visit with Melissa at her blog, if you like.

I promised Melissa that I'd get my own scraps rounded up and have a package ready to send on to Amie early next week. Take a look back to see the story of Amie's ongoing project here and here. I'll gladly take scraps if you are interested in helping Amie. Leave a message and I will follow up.

Now, my second agenda item. I've got an old cutting mat that has warped terribly. Is there any use for them once they get this bad?

I'd love to be able to repurpose this mat, or figure out a re-use. I am betting that quilters have ideas of how this mat can be saved from the trash heap.

It's pretty badly warped, isn't it? I just hate that it's ruined. I really hope there is some alternate use for it.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Postage Stamp Quilt Update

ay, way back on April 30, 2010, I shared a long-term project that a friend of mine was undertaking. Take a look back, if you like.

I have recently heard from Amie and she has given me an update on her progress, as well as a picture.

Impressive, isn't it? She has 15 blocks completed and plans to make 48 more! She did the math and figures that she has 2,160 1-inch squares in these 15 blocks, all different fabrics! Awesome, I say! I must send her some more squishy packages, too!

I continue to work on September Stars using my French General fabric. Love working with it, and cannot wait to see this quilt top finished! It's going to be one that I really love. (Of course, I love them all, right?)

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Postage Stamp Quilt Project

One of the greatest things about quilting is that it brings people of different generations together. Way back in the early 1980s when I was a young English teacher and yearbook adviser, I had a student, Amie, who was my yearbook editor. In the 2 or 3 years that I taught her, our first child was born, and Amie's mother became Adam's babysitter. So as far as teacher/student relationships go, ours was closer than most.

In the intervening years, we exchanged Christmas cards, birth announcements; graduation pictures, etc. She married and had 2 daughters, while my husband and I added 2 daughters to join Adam. Gradually, there didn't seem to be a generational difference anymore! My youngest is younger than hers!

Fast forward 25+ years...in the Christmas card I received from Amie this past Christmas, she included a note explaining a project she was going to tackle: a postage stamp quilt with every 1" square out of a different fabric - no repeats. She was requesting from her quilting friends scraps that they would otherwise throw away or hide away forever to be sent to her for use in her quilt! She has no pressing deadline, and seems to be perfectly willing to work on this for a good while, as donated scraps come in. She's keeping a record of all who donate scraps for inclusion on a tag she will attach to the back. I sent her a couple of "squishy" envelopes, and so have others, and here is her first block:

She writes that it took her an hour and 45 minutes to sew this together. She says she forgot to keep track of how long it took her to select and arrange fabrics! This is the first of 63 blocks she will make. Doing the math there (she did it; not me!), she will have 9,072 different fabrics in 1"squares pieced into this quilt.

Isn't that cool?

Since that picture was sent, she has made a second block. In her email she said, "I just completed block 2-only 61 left to go!! I feel really impowered having two finished. Now it doesn't seem like such a huge task. However, I am still perfecting my method of piecing. I find I get lost if I try to chain piece too many at once. And I really do stress over the fabric placement."

That sound so like her! I remember her attention to detail when she was the yearbook editor! Very much the one to catch the little things. Editors and quiltmakers have similar OCD tendencies, maybe! ;-)

Anyway, I am very pleased to send scraps that would otherwise go to waste off to Amie for her project. You Go Girl!!

TTFN!
Jayne