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