This is the quilt Nearly Insane, made by Francis Meredith of the blog Faberdashery. This was shown at the Pacific International Quilt Show in 2018. (And yes, even Molly knew not to put her claws into this quilt). For my last post, a few AI bots left comments about how making a 3/4 inch postage stamp quilt is crazy. This is my rebuttal. The quilt above is formally called "Nearly Insane" so obviously simple squares is "Nearly Normal." (Admittedly, cutting up fabric and sewing it back together can never be considered normal...)
This quilt was hanging close to the "Nearly Insane" quilt, and given its full size even a bot would have to agree that calling a postage stamp quilt "crazy" means there are no English words left to describe this quilt.
And here is the quilt Demented (it has another name that I don't remember right now). Sadly, a bot is pretending to be the very same quilter that made this same quilt and forced me to make one too. And that quilter (who obviously wouldn't consider a postage stamp quilt crazy) made her version using half square triangles which is something a cuckoo clock might say every hour on the hour.
More to the point, I was at a quilt guild meeting and a member showed a postage stamp quilt that alternated neutral and bright blocks with 3/4 inch finished squares. I thought that quilt was lovely and decided to make one for myself. (Unfortunately, that quilt used softer colors so the one I am making currently doesn't quite cut it, but the next one might hit the mark.)
Plus it's easy to make because it starts with 1.25 inch strips, sewing lengths of bright 1.25 inch hunks to long lengths of 1.25 inch neutral strips.
These paired strips are cut into 1.25 inch lengths, leaving a pairs that are 1.25 inches by 2 inches. And when you sew them together they nest quite nicely. Admittedly to keep the growing block neat, flat and manageable it is important to twirl the seams where four patches meet.
So making postage stamp quilts is too much fun to be crazy. At every seam the patches nest into each other. If I had to sew two layer cake squares together, I would end up with some randomly curvy puckered mess, while sewing the postage stamps together is like zipping up a zipper. (Unless you use pins, which is both painful and crazy). So really it just comes down to a choice between stacking legos or blocks of ice.
7 comments:
I protest! I am definitely not an AI bot. Thanks for the reminder about Demented. I would have mentioned that one, too, as proof of your lack of sanity, but I couldn't remember it's name. That happens when you get old, like me.
Pat
I'm pretty sure I only meant "mind-boggling" in reference to its sheer gloriousity. (Yes, spellcheck, that is a word)
I love the optical illusion of the Demented quilt. It looks like it is vibrating and making circles where there aren't any.
I finally remember what that itch in my brain was all about. Some years ago a quilter was leading us to make log cabin blocks with 1.25" strips and when I asked why such a random width, she replied "psst... it's a 2.5" strip sliced down the middle." All that to say that it just occurred to me that if you took two 2.5" strips laid right sides together, stitched along both edges, then sliced it down the middle, you'd end up with strata to cut postage stamps out of.
Dammit. Did I just start another quilt?
Love the pictures of the quilt pieces on your cat. Cute helper.
Lovely photobomber and a fabulous Nearly Insane, I must get out all my red and cream fabrics collected over the years and I'm definitely with Gayle on stitching and cutting the 2.5" strips for postage stamps - great idea. Where's the fat cat got to?
It is amazing how such a simple process (even if tedious) results in such a lovely unique creation.
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