Block Swap Reveal

Last night during our guild meeting, we all shared our quilts made with identical blocks in each quilt.  We had two color choices - a traditional red, or a neutral batik.  I chose the batik, so I made enough of my block pattern for each quilter in the batik group to receive one.

POND-ering  (I know, it's a corny name.)

We swapped blocks in May and each quilter came up with their own ideas for making them into a quilt.  The batik group had 21 participants, which is an odd number of blocks to use.  I made 2 more to make it an even 23.  Ok.  That's still a strange number of blocks, but it worked for this layout.

Lots of thread color changes in this top

The top left of each block was quilted with a neutral colored thread while the bottom right half used a thread color that matched the lower right frame.  It took a lot of work to change the colors.  However, the end result is so subtle, it goes unnoticed.  Maybe there's a lesson hidden in this experience.

The blocks are quilted with Heavy Metal designs which  Kim Stotsenberg at Sew-n-Sew Quilting created using wrought iron as an inspiration.  These were fun designs to quilt and the blocks dictated the design, so these didn't need to be marked ahead of time.  

Here's the back, which is also quite subtle (i.e. boring) with the thread color changes.

A closer look shows a little detail.

In retrospect, a very light solid would have been a better choice for this backing ... or less custom quilting.

I'll enjoy this quilt since I can see it up close.  It's a special one to me because of each quilt guild friend who made a block for it.  It will be a fond memory of this year I've spent as guild president.  The attendance and lively chatter last night was a good indicator of how excited we all were to see one another's quilts.

I'm hoping to whip the house into shape today just in time for my mom's arrival this evening.  She'll go to a high school football game with us to watch the marching band and then she's off to Virginia tomorrow morning to be with her sister.  My aunt's cancer returned and she's now under hospice care.  I posted about her in March/April of 2011 when she began chemo and I sent a string quilt to her.  She's had a difficult journey, but has faced it with faith in Christ, an expectation of heaven, humor and appreciation for all her blessings, especially her family.  What an amazing example to us all.

Enjoy your day!
- SeeingStars