Monday, January 24, 2011

Collaborative quilting


I've joined a small group of interested quilters at Home Ec Workshop (Codi calls us Prelude to a Quilt Guild) and we've met a few times now. The group is fairly free-form and our stitching abilities range from newbie to very experienced. Sometimes we just talk about what we've been doing and sometimes we all decide on a small project that we work on between meetings and share the next time. Thus far, I hadn't managed to get any of the projects completed, but this last time I was inspired.



Each of us cut 64 squares of 5.5" background material (I used a print I've had for ages, everyone else picked solids), and 128 half-squre triangles, cut from squares that measured anywhere from 2.5" to 4.5". Then we threw all the half-square triangles in a big pile and plucked out the number we needed. It gave each of us an opportunity to use someone else's fabrics, which were often fabrics we wouldn't have chosen ourselves.


I sewed each block intentionally not color-matching the triangles (although I did often sew a large one and a small one to each background piece). Then I deviated from the original pattern (it's loosely based on Corner Store by Lynn Harris in Pretty Little Mini Quilts) in which the background blocks all faced the same direction (above), forming a kind of flat Star of David.

In a future post I'll share the finished quilt tops. Can't wait to see what everyone's come up with!

Pearl helped, of course.

4 comments:

anne said...

Oh, this sounds fun! When does the group meet? (I have managed to sew two things since the babies were born! Nothing as involved as a quilt top, though!)

Anonymous said...

Pearl is so helpful. Maybe she will come and help me with mine.
-codi

Marcia said...

Be grateful for Home Ec. A warm, inviting, inspiring place to gather is a rarity.

Linzee said...

Marcia:

I'm not so sure that a warm, inspiring place is a rarity (I'm sure they exist in VA Beach, too), but there's no doubt that Home Ec is a jewel. I feel so grateful for them—their gorgeous yarn and fabric, their yummy Italian sodas, and their super-kind and knowledgeable owners and staff members.