Thursday, June 15, 2006

Odds and Ends

It was a great mini group meeting today. Six women came to agreement on the quilt we will make for the guild's opportunity (raffle) quilt for the March quilt show. Isn't that truly amazing? Then we went to a quilt shop and AGREED on the fabric purchases. No blood was shed, no tears were wept, no voices were raised. Now--to get it sewn, quilted, and bound! Our guild is celebrating its 25th anniversary this coming year. Our symbol has always been the friendship star and members are encouraged to send a 3" friendship star to any member who may be needing an extra hug or bit of comfort. With that in mind, we decided to make 25 blocks of friendship stars in batiks, marbles, tone on tones, etc, and entitle it 25 Years of Friendship. So excited about this quilt! My mini group has been exchanging 5" nickel swaps for 9 months now. Each month we use a different color and provide ten blocks for each other, which means you are accumulating 80 each month (see, you do use your math you learned in school! 8 members X 10 fabric pieces=80--ta dah) I should have 720 nickel squares--but I'm not going to count them!!! I have also picked up some Moda 5" sampler packs along the way to add to the mix. Each gal will then do what she wants with them. We will continue to swap till September. Most are thinking of charm quilts they'd like to use the squares for. I'm leaning towards 1000 Pyramids. Also pictured, my progress on the Jo Morton Scrappy Stars blocks. I am caught up to date. Good thing, new Birds of a Feather block will be in the KC Star this Sunday. In the words of Roseann Roseannadanna, "It's always a-somethin'!"

8 comments:

Linda C said...

That is truly amazing--usually any group has a dissenting voice so your small group must be quite compatible.

I love how the stars are coming out--fun that some are of the "phantom" variety with the fabric selections.

Unknown said...

Wow what a great bunch of nickel suares. The star blocks are nice. I like the colors you've used.

Also had to peek at the snails tail block you made. It's been 5 years since I made my blocks but I think they were from strip cutting.
I remember lots of chain sewing. Good luck with yours.

Lizzy

Unknown said...

I don't know so much about small groups not being able to agree - I reckon if the world was led by quilters it might just be a better place - less wars anyway they'd get in the way of valuable stitching time :o) Nice stars - some give you a real optical illusion of not being there til you look up close because of the way the fabrics interact. Love that lilac at the bottom of your squares :o) in fact they're all lovely

Unknown said...

I don't know so much about small groups not being able to agree - I reckon if the world was led by quilters it might just be a better place - less wars anyway they'd get in the way of valuable stitching time :o) Nice stars - some give you a real optical illusion of not being there til you look up close because of the way the fabrics interact. Love that lilac at the bottom of your squares :o) in fact they're all lovely

Susan Tidwell said...

Sounds like you are really enjoying your retirement!

Patti said...

What a great idea for your raffle quilt. I'm eager to see how it looks. In the meantime, you have a wonderful bunch of nickels to play with!

Judy said...

What a fabulous stash of blocks!! All that variety and color!! Did you get the Moda from the FatQuarter shop? I like them but hate the pinking sheer cuts. The blocks are coming together very nicely, great selection of colors and choices for pattern. Beautiful!

Argg! Another BOAF block this Sunday? Yikes, I am behind. I'm almost finished with block 2. I finally had to email the newspaper to get them to put Block 5 online for purchase just last week, I think they forgot! Can't wait to see the next one!

Quilts And Pieces said...

What fun your nickel blocks are. I've been swapping nickel blocks now of civil war fabrics for about a year - it is so much fun to plan what to do with them!

Your stars are still looking wonderful! And what a great idea for your raffle quilt! No fighting! That is an accomplishment for anyone!