It's Tuesday

This morning, Sydney and I tagged along on Mrs. Goodwyn's class field trip to the Headwaters Forest Preserve. I've actually only gone once before, about 5 years ago. It was magical! I forget sometimes that we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Just about ten minutes from my house, we set foot onto this amazing piece of land with an incredible history. The logging town of Falk was located there from the late 1800's to the late 1930's, and a few remnants of the town are still standing. There was a guide there to tell us the story behind this forgotten town. It was great. We walked about two miles total and had a great time. My good friend Larissa (who is Mrs. Goodwyn's daughter) had invited me to come and I'm so glad she did. We had a blast.




So, I promised pictures of some swap quilts I've made. This quilt is from a swap that Larissa and I hosted together. The rule was, 6" blocks, your choice of block. My sister had given me 100 six inch squares of 1930's fabrics, so I put them into the middle and then put the swap blocks all around the outside. I absolutely love this quilt. I know several of the people that made the blocks and it's like a little scrapbook. The little yellow plane on a blue background at the bottom of the quilt is the first paper pieced block I ever completed. (notice I said completed. I attempted several times before.)

Here's a sneak preview of the block swap that I'm putting together for the store. It is simple enough that most skill levels will be comfortable with, and makes a neat pattern.

Block Swap

A couple of months ago I was itching to participate in a block swap. Over the years I have done a few and hosted some as well. They are quite a lot of fun and I have missed participating.

If you haven't heard of a block swap, a traditional block swap has a hostess that sets the rules for the swap. In this case, the block was set at 8" and was to be a basket block of your choice. The participants will make a set of 8 blocks. Seven of the blocks are sent off to the swap hostess with a self addressed stamped envelope and a small hostess gift to show appreciation for the host. (You keep one block because you will not get your own back.) A couple of weeks later, in the mail, will arrive seven different basket blocks. Now I signed up for 5 sets of blocks, so I will receive 35 different blocks back, plus the 5 I kept for myself of my own blocks, for a total of 40 different 8" basket blocks. Pretty fun!



The really neat thing is, you get these blocks from all over the country. Most people will put an address label on the back so you can see what part of the country they came from.

I finished my blocks today, and packaged them up to send off to Louann in North Carolina. She is our swap hostess. I bagged them up into sets and can't wait for them to be mailed back out. There is a twist though, instead of putting my address on the return envelope, I put someone elses address. Someone that I thought would like them. I thought it would be really fun to open the mail one day and find 40 1930's basket blocks just waiting to be put into a quilt. It will be a nice surprise.


Now for some more fun news. Scottie Dog Quilts will be hosting a 1930's block swap of it's own. I have just finished quilting the sample and am writing up the details. Anyone can participate, whether you are local or live across the nation.

I'll have more details to follow soon and I'll share some of the swap quilts that I've made.