1998 - 1999 Blocks

About 18 years ago six of us quilters got the bright idea to make blocks once a month for each of us in the group, meaning we would make five blocks each month or six if we wanted one for our self.  Let me just say that 18 years ago I did not feel like making myself one after repeating the same block five times.  Today, I wish I had.  I have no idea what I made and gave away. 

I'm sure we had some general rules.  I have to think that the main one would have been: all blocks have to be the same size.  But apparently the artistic rule of 'anything goes' prevailed.  Of the 33 blocks that were given to me I had eighteen different sizes. 

The largest one was 13".  So to make them all the same I used the Twist and Turn method which was a lot of fun. Not every one of them could be done this way because of their size and some had to be trimmed down.

Here's the one that every block was based on:

Of course being the chocoholic that I am I had 2 blocks given to me with a chocolate motif and I 'wrapped' them in chocolate fabric as well.

Now if you have a block that's already on the diagonal twisting it makes it straight.  Wizened up and did not do that for the second one that was similar.

The longest one I treated as two blocks:

Next up, what shape did I want my quilt?  I basically had 34 blocks which does not a quilt make.  Did I want a 5 x 7 block quilt (35) or square 6 x 6 (36).  I really did not want a square quilt so I only added one of my own.  Lindbergh's Night Flight has become my signature block so:

I then made cornerstones using the fabric I had twisted with:

This project was a lot of fun and certainly brought back the memories.  Now to make the backing and a quilt label.  I pray I remember everybody's name to list. 

A few tips if you decide to do this:

Have them all the same size
Make everyone put their name and date (at least month and year) inside each block so that it doesn't get sewn into the seam.  This way you also have the names of those who participated.
Make one for yourself
Don't let 18 years pass by before you do something with them.  As far as I know everybody else has their blocks still in a box.