always in the true spirit of patchwork, i am using up my tiniest scraps of fabric for the tiny patchwork project. this process is reminding me of the origin of my craft.
a comment was made on my overcast method, which is indeed related to the english paper piecing method, most often associated with those little hexagons that are part of mosaic quilting.
the real story for me , though.... is that i was sitting in a lecture class bored out of my mind (1969) and for some reason i had a couple of scraps of fabric in my pocket (i cannot remember why). i had this idea about patchwork in my head but no tools to work with. i folded a piece of paper into a 1" square, placed the square in the center of the scrap, licked my fingers and folded the fabric over the edges of the square, pressing the fold with my with my wet fingers, to hold the crease. it worked, something like unplugged steam ironing. i realized if i put right sides together i could easily see where the corners were and make the pieces line up perfectly ( which satisfied this desire for order and perfection that always haunts me). i sewed them together with an overcast stitch when i got home. this project turned into my first quilt and i know i have a picture some where..... just haven't found it yet. i always preferred this method because of its precision in piecing small designs and its portability. of course i switched to preparing pieces ahead of time with an iron.
boodely and her post on collecting has me thinking about my fabrics... those little scraps that get recycled, i can't call them a stash, seems too greedy a term, so disrespectful for my little friends that contain so much personal history. a collection perhaps? i definitely will not use the word stash to describe those valuable treasures collected over the years. i will save it for some pile of new fabrics i purchased so i could have "more" fabric than i actually needed......i have only done that a few times. i don't do that any more. i will give those new fabrics away. in this way they can be used within a truer context of the craft.
i've made up a game for this quilt. 2 baggies. indigo squares in one, the darks. linen and other assorted colors in another, the lights. without looking i pick a square from each, sewing dark and light. 6x6. (on a commuter train) grab bag blocks. i play with the fabrics, they play with me. random order. ha! fair is fair.
part of a poem by Douglas Malloch
And what is life? A crazy quilt;
Sorrow and joy, and grace and guilt,
With here and there a square of blue
For some old happiness we knew;
And so the hand of time will take
The fragments of our lives and make,
Out of life's remnants, as they fall,
A thing of beauty, after all. 
