Ten Thousand Pieces

The other day, someone asked me what a Postage Stamp Quilt is.  They thought it might be the same as a Charm Quilt.  As I explained the difference.....I began thinking.

A Postage Stamp Quilt is a quilt made entirely of small squares.  Typically, the squares are cut one and one-half inch by one and one-half inch for a finished size of one inch square.  Each square is thought to resemble a postage stamp!!!  These quilts are very beautiful but time consuming to make because the pieces are so tiny.

I have always admired Postage Stamp quilts and have often thought I'd like to make one but never have.

A Charm Quilt is a quilt made entirely from the same size and shaped piece being repeated throughout the quilt.  The charm part comes in because each piece is cut from a different fabric.  Kind of like each charm on a charm bracelet is different.  Some of the common blocks used in a Charm Quilt are the Tumbler, Apple Core, Square, Triangle, Rectangle, Hexagon, Octagon, Trapazoid and Paralellogram.

I also love Charm Quilts and have made two of them.

This conversation got me thinking and I am giving myself a challenge!  I am going to make a Postage Stamp Charm Square Quilt!!!  I am planning to make a queen size quilt.  This means I will need a few more than ten thousand pieces each cut from a different fabric.  I know it will take awhile to collect all of these pieces but I am confident it can be done.

The picture above shows my first six hundred pieces.  Whoo hoo.... only 9400 and some to go!!!  These pieces are a collection of fabric shopping swatches I received some time ago.  They just happen to be one and one-half inch by one and one-half inch!  How lucky is that?  It's like a quick-start-quilt!

Tomorrow I am going to begin going through my bins of scraps and cut a one and one-half inch square from each different fabric.  Next, I will do the same from each folded yardage piece of fabric in my stash.   After that, I will snip a piece from each bolt of fabric I have in my collection.  This may take me awhile because I have a pretty good size stash.  I'm going to have to do this systematically so I don't forget which fabrics I've already snipped!

I have already talked to my sister and one of my good quilting friends and they are going to  give me snips from the fabrics in their stashes too!!!  Any and all themes, prints and colors of fabric will be included in this quilt.  I hope to convince others to help as well.  I figure the more people willing to do some snipping for me  ..... the quicker I'll reach the goal of ten thousand pieces.  Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Since the thought of sewing tiny squares into long rows is a little scary for me, I will be constructing twelve inch squares first, then sewing them together to create the quilt top.  I am going to sew the squares randomly which will be a little difficult for me but will produce a wonderful look to this scrappy quilt.

I'm very excited about this project.  I know it will be a beautiful one-of-a-kind quilt.

Happy Quilting,
Laurel