Monday, July 16, 2012

Making Quilts from Swap Blocks

As you know, I have been cleaning, organizing and going through all of the fabric, patterns, scraps, etc., in my sewing studio.  As I was going through some of my pattern drawers, I ran across swap blocks from a 2008 Red & White Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block swap.  I guess in the back of my mind I knew that I had these blocks ~ somewhere ~ and always thought that ~ some day ~ I would put them together into a quilt.  Well, that day finally came and here's the design that I came up with:

These blocks are just stuck to my design wall now (other than the the 6 to the right which I've sashed).  I decided to use a medallion type block setting and chose this Mariner's Compass block that I found in Jennifer Chiaverini's pattern book, More Elm Creek Quilts.  This block came from Jennifer's pattern, Round Robin.  Since I participated in my quilting group's Round Robin activity using this pattern, I was familiar with the block and it went together quickly.  I like the size of this quilt as it is but thinking that I could add another row to the top and bottom and to each side so it could cover a twin size bed.  As you can see, I got some beautiful red & white blocks from our swap.  I plan to work on this throughout the week and hopefully by week's end, I will have it all together and ready for the long-arm quilter. 

This is just one of many quilts I plan to get together from swap blocks.  It's amazes me how many I have participated in and how many pretty blocks I received that are just sitting in Ziplock bags.  Just off the top of my head, I would say that I have five (5) different quilts that I need to make from swap blocks.  There will be no more swaps for this girl until she makes quilts with the ones she already has . . . and that's a promise I've made to myself!

I'm in a Farmer's Wife Sampler block challenge and finished up the June blocks over the weekend.  We needed to make 6 blocks for June and I finished 2 blocks earlier (pictured below in previous blog post).  Yesterday, I made 6 more blocks for my FWS quilt:






Although this past week was a busy one for me, it was also a very enjoyable one as I am getting back to my sewing projects that sat dormant for weeks while I was recovering from surgery.  I hope I can make as more or even more progress this week!

Until next time . . .
Debbie

8 comments:

  1. Debbie, your red and white quilt looks gorgeous! I really like your sashing and the center medallion, too. Doesn't it feel good to acomplish something??

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    1. Thank you, Marianne. I've just started sewing the blocks together so it isn't finished just yet, but it does feel good to accomplish something and see my stack of UFO projects decrease!

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  2. Love the red and white! Glad you are doing so well and back to quilting.

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    1. Thank you, Norma Jean. It's so great to have a blog where I can reach out and communicate with other quilters who enjoy sewing. Thanks again for your kind words.

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  3. Debbie, I LOVE this setting for the R & W blocks! Beautiful. What, no more swaps right now? Really? Can you stick with that, I tease, as only a sister can.

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    1. Thank you, Pat! It's fun working with the reds and whites. I know it will take some willpower sticking to my decision about the swaps because they are a lot of fun. But I really have to get my past swap blocks together in quilt tops. There are so many of them and all are so pretty . . . remember our friendship swap with the Civil War fabrics? That's my next project. I've worked out a layout on EQ7 that's pretty cool :)

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  4. I love your center medallion - works so well with the swap blocks, the the arrangement looks great! I should dig mine out! I have the red and white and the blue and brown both in zip lock bags .... waiting ... and waiting ... to be put together! Have fun sewing this one up! How will you quilt it?

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    1. Thank you, Janet Ann! I was in the blue and brown swap as well as the pink and brown swap, so I'm going to be making quilts from swap blocks for awhile. As far as quilting my red and white, I quilt with my checkbook (lol) and use Missouri Star Quilt Company for that. They do a great job with fast turn-around and lowest price I have found ~ you can't beat that!

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