Block Swap

The first time I attended a quilt guild meeting, the members were having their annual block swap. I had heard about it a few days before, from the lady who invited me, but being a hand-piecer, and having no inspiration off the top of my head, I did not participate. Boy, was I sorry! The theme for that year was Halloween, and the only restrictions were you had to bring twelve blocks, and they had to be 12 1/2 inches. There were so many neat blocks. One person had made traditional Spider Web blocks, another had made Sunbonnet Sue-type blocks, but they were trick-or-treaters.

I knew I'd participate the next year, for sure. The next year, the theme was baskets; they had to be on point, 12 inches. I pieced my baskets but did not get them completed by the deadline. Most of them are done now, but I still have a few waiting for handles.

Last year, the exchange was for six 36" strips, the theme was Spring, and there was a required background fabric, so that all the pieces would be cohesive. I started out to do that exchange, but my pieces didn't come out straight, and before I thought of another idea, I lost the background fabric - all two yards of it.

Well, this year was twelve 9" blue and white blocks. Finally, something I could handle! I started out with a more complex block, but as the deadline approached, I ended up with these:

The name of the block is Three Kings' Journey from this book. Of course, the title refers to the magi going to see Baby Jesus, but I also thought of my own three little kings.

Here are all the blocks (only nine people participated.)

Since all my baskets are blue, I thought of putting them with the blue and white swap blocks, but they are different sizes. I'm undecided. Anyway, I think it is a lot of fun to exchange blocks with others. Here's another blog on block swaps.

(By the way, the quilt that my basket block is laying on top of is a quilt my great-grandmother made.)