Extreme swaps!

If you've ever done a swap, you know you are at the mercy of your fellow swappers.  I have done 9 patches, nickels, charms, and these little 4 patches.  In every situation, I have been excited with some of the blocks or fabric as well as amazed that someone thought it was acceptable to include some others in the swap. I have to admit, I am still not over getting a charm square of pool balls that was thinner than toilet paper!

You may remember from previous posts that we had to do 800 4-patches that finish at 1.5".  Tiny little things.  But, when you are dealing with such small pieces, a variation of 1/8" is noticeable. Without showing examples and calling anyone out (including me), let's just say there is a LOT of variation in these.  Anytime you make 800 of anything, it's natural to lose your motivation, your mojo, and your accuracy.  Hence, the sashings help control the little stinkers who are less than accurate.

But -- I love them and this will be different from any quilt I have ever made.  And a few of the swappers are friends and our mutual history together is reflected in some of those little 4 patches.  As an aside, their little patches were just fine.  :-)

On the other side of swapping are these lovely little HSTs.  These were all done with friends and they are great!  We used Edyta Sitar's HST papers with a guideline of batiks in shades of autumn.  What a great way to do a swap.

We all used her papers and the accuracy is great.  Each of us stitched our papers, cut them, and divided them up.  That way, the recipient has to take off the papers, press them, and cut the bunny ears off.  I'm not sure what they will end up in but it's so fun to see them and I am loving that they are all the same size!

So -- two swaps.  Love them both but one requires a lot of finessing and one is ready to go once I get time and decide what to do.  Every swap is a roll of the dice and I think accepting the fact that some items are going to be less than perfect is worth the gamble!

I hope you're finding ways to create!

Jan

Perhaps an Intervention?

Seriously -- what is happening here?

1.  All the Christmas gifts are finished -- no wait!  I have one more pillowcase to do out of dino fabric but have until New Years Eve to get that done.  Oh  -- and I forgot -- I haven't finished binding the dino quilt and that has to be done by New Years Eve, too.

2.  I am knee deep in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt and determined to stay on top of every clue -- otherwise it will end up in a tote and become a chore to finish at some point. You can see how others are progressing at by clicking here.

3.  I have joined a HST swap using Edyta Sitar's piecing papers and that's due the end of January.

4.  And -- here's the kicker and the need for possible outside help -- I have decided to make a baby quilt (or slightly bigger) out of my African fabrics.  That's not too hard, right.  You only have to cut a bazillion logs and then start assembling them.

Like many of you, I don't really have yardage of African fabrics -- I have scraps that have been given to me or a scrap bag that I picked up from a vendor at a quilt show (usually from the garment district in NYC which means it pieces of clothing or leftovers from clothing).  These pieces are highly irregular - they may be a pocket, a shirt sleeve that was miscut, something that was disassembled and the button cut off.  They really are perfect for logs but each piece has to be individually cut.

For the first time ever, I know that I haven't over cut my logs.  I usually get really focused on cutting and I end up with too many of one size or one fabric.  The design wall is a life saver.  While this is a terrible picture -- you get the idea.  They are sorted by size and right beside my machine.  I can grab and go and make sure that no blocks have duplicate logs. I am hopeful the time spent doing this will save time (and order) on the backend when I start assembling.

This quilt will be 49"x 49" (7 x 7 of 7" blocks).  I say "this quilt" because there could be more.  Not because I have more scraps of African fabrics.  Those have been depleted.  But because I just found out that the young couple that I'm making this for may be adopting more than one child.

I knew they were well on their way to adopting a baby up to 18 months old from Ethiopia.  What I found out this weekend is that if the baby has siblings, they will take up to 3-4 children.  I am ashamed to say that "Oh how wonderful" was my second thought.  My selfish first thought was "holy cow, that could be four quilts -- I don't have enough fabric".  I am guessing my Australian fabrics will have to suffice along with a number of other African reproductions (you can see some of those in the logs I have already cut -- I think I have stayed away from the Australian ones thus far).

Obviously, the quilts could be out of anything but my initial thought was to have a bright baby quilt out of fabrics from the same continent (I doubt any of these scraps are purely Ethiopian).  My second thought is to try to make the appropriate number of quilts out of ethnic fabrics and that may change, depending on how this goes! So, I will make the first one and have it ready and see what blessings they are able to adopt.  They will be in Ethiopia for a few weeks and then come back without their baby(children).  That will give me some time to figure this out.

But -- if I agree to any more swaps, mysteries, gift quilts -- I may need an intervention.  I am on sabbatical from my two hospital quilts a month until March.  I need to use that free time wisely I think.

I hope there are people in your life that are full of the generosity and love that exist in this young couple!

Jan