A couple of weeks ago I was perusing Facebook, and I noticed a post by one of my favorite authors – Marie Bostwick http://mariebostwick.com/. Marie has written loads of books about a woman who goes through a difficult time in her life – moves to a new city/town and opens a quilt shop. As a quilter this has always been something that I have wanted to do. Life and finances have always kept me from doing that – it is still on my bucket list but the lottery may need to be involved for it to happen at this point. We all need our dreams. But I digress….

The post was regarding a block swap – as a reader of Marie’s Forum I was very interested in this project. We were instructed to check out Bonnie Hunter’s blog http://www.quiltville.blogspot.com and check out her tutorial for The Guilford County Block http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/08/its-guilford-county-block.html. To sign up you needed to let them know that you were interested – forum posts and e-mails started flying all over. We have 22 people who have signed up – they are from all over the place – the US and Canada seem to be the most interested.

We are making the blocks pink and brown – not colors that I would usually use together but I am happy with the blocks. I am using Batiks which I love to work with. They give you such a range of color tones within each piece of fabric. We can use scraps within our stash but I decided that I would buy some new fabric.

This is a picture of my first attempt at the block.  OOPS – I flipped one of the pieces and this is what I got.   Not bad but not right.  That is why they call it a practice block.

First attempt – oops

This is what the block is actually supposed to look like.

Guilford County Block

However this is also a practice block because it isn’t 12.5″ square which is a requirement for the swap.  I am using my new sewing machine and I am still fiddling with the seam allowance – it has to be exactly 1/4″ in order for the block to measure 12 1/2″ square when I am finished.  If you don’t have your blocks exactly 12 1/2″ when you assemble your quilt it will not be square – it will be all wonky.  You don’t want a WONKY quilt!!!

Last night I fiddled and fiddled and finally got my seam allowance correct and now I am making 22 blocks that will be 12 1/2″ square.  So I will be sewing Guilford County Blocks and then mailing them off by April 16th.  In return I will receive 22 Guilford County Blocks made by 22 different people who love quilting and love Marie Bostwick books.

I have never done a swap like this before – I am looking forward to seeing the blocks that I get in return and I am also looking forward to making these blocks into a quilt.  Just the idea of 22 different people interpreting the block and picking fabrics is exciting.  So after I get my blocks all assembled I will send them off to the quilter who is organizing this and then I will wait to get my 22 blocks in return.  I will show you the blocks as soon as I get them.

More snow coming tonight – hopefully it will all blow out to sea and we will not have to shovel.  Beautiful weather is coming for the weekend.  Don’t forget to change your clocks on Saturday night.  We lose an hour  – bummer.

Be kind…

Faith