Quilts from Swaps

This is the result of an online swap in 1997. I put the blocks together right away, but I didn't get the machine quilting finished until November, 2000. It measures approximately 29 1/2" x 27 1/2", and it's great in my sewing room! Here are a couple of details of some of the blocks:

          

Autumn Swap Quilt

A group I belong to in the Las Vegas area had a block exchange using autumn colors. These are definitely not the colors I usually use! However, I decided to go ahead and join in so as to see what I could do in a different (for me) palette. This is the result, finished in October, 2001. The quilt measures about 52" x 33" and was machine pieced and quilted. I stitched in the ditch along each of the sashings and borders and then did a free-motion motif in each of the blocks. I used the same motif in each block to unify the whole. Here's a detail of two of the blocks where you can see the quilting:

Sandy Swap Quilt

This quilt was a very long-term thing! I participated in an online block swap in 1999, and my set of blocks arrived at my home late that May, literally days before I was to move out of state. I was really worried for a little while there! This swap was among people from all over the world whose name was Sandy, or a variation of that: Sandra, Alexandra, Sandi, etc. For a very long time, the blocks sat in my closet while I debated what to do with them. Finally an idea began to form.The blocks weren't all exactly the same size, which is common in a swap, so I used Sharyn Craig's Twist 'n Turn technique to even them up. I like the effect! I had originally wanted to turn this into a blue and yellow quilt, but the red just seemed to want to be used. That was probably because of the events of 9/11/01.

The quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted and measures approximately 66" x 80". I used smaller versions of the stars in the corners of the outer border, which is a fireworks print. The quilting includes stitch-in-the-ditch work along the pieces of the sashing, a multicolored swirl effect in the large stars, and dark blue stippling in the blue backgrounds. The border is quilted with a loopy pattern. It was all finally finished in June, 2002. The blocks in this quilt came from Missouri, Florida, California, Massachusetts, and Colorado in the U.S; British Columbia and Saskatchewan in Canada; Leicester in the U.K.; Panama; and South Africa!
 
 
 

Spring Swap Quilt

The Autumn Swap in my local quilt circle was such fun that I decided to go ahead and participate again when a Spring Swap was planned. This time we were to use pastels for our 9" blocks, which were exchanged in April, 2002. This color combination was lots easier for me to enjoy! ;) There were 18 blocks, which meant that the easiest way to put them together was in an on-point formation. To get all of the blocks to the same 9" size, I fudged the yellow and lavender sashing with which I framed each one -- yellow on two adjoining sides, lavender on the others.  Then I found a lovely floral print to use for the setting triangles, inserting a narrow strip of the yellow and lavender fabrics between the triangles and the little outer border. Below is the quilt itself, with a detail further down to show the quilting pattern.

I machine pieced and machine quilted this one, using variegated thread in pastels for the quilting. I quilted in the ditch between the sashings and then used free-motion quilting for the hearts motif in each of the blocks. I used half of the motif in each of the setting triangles and a quarter of the same motif in the corner triangles. The quilt measures roughly 53" x 69" and was finished in October, 2002.