The Finished Block Swap

15

June 27, 2015 by tessaraewilliams

Hi! I’m Tessa! Here’s all the information you’ll need to know before joining the #finishedblockswap!

• Every month, you will be making an 18-inch square finished block for your partner. A finished block means top, batting, backing, and quilted. Don’t bind it; it will be combined with other blocks to make a quilt at the end.
• This will be a month to month swap. Ideally, it will be a year long commitment, ending with 12 blocks that you will sash together to make a good size 54″x72″ quilt! However, you may opt out between months and rejoin later.
• New participants may join at any time. This swap is now closed to new participants.
• Please only use quilt shop quality fabrics (not from big box stores). To keep costs down, the challenge of this swap is to primarily use fabrics from your stash! (You can go buy new fabric if you reeeeally want to though ;)) Feel free to use yardage, scraps, and selvedges, but try to get at least one stash fabric in each block. To keep all blocks similar, please only use 100% cotton low-loft batting. This can be bought at big box craft stores.
• This will be a partner swap, not a secret swap. You will have a new partner every month. The entry form will be bare bones, so you will have to communicate with your partner on your likes/dislikes. This is a great way to get to know your partner, and hopefully by the end of the swap you’ll have 12 new friends!  After your first successful month, you will have the opportunity to request partners for future months!

Host notes

• This swap is best suited for quilters with some confidence. Meaning, you are confident in your abilities, and that you can start and finish the quilt block within the month turnaround. You also have some form of a fabric stash.
• Leave your expectations behind! Please enter this swap with an open mind. You are working within the confines of your partner’s stash, so if you’re wanting an all [insert designer here] quilt, you will be disappointed.
• Having said that, it would be a good idea to come up with a theme or color palette to make your quilt more cohesive in the end. For example, monochromatic, rainbow, analogous/complimentary, etc. Feel free to make inspiration mosaics for your theme and/or color palette.
• You are making a quilt block that is to be a part of a larger quilt in the end. There’s no need to try for a full-on miniquilt! Since you only have a month to come up with an idea, make it, and send it off, we are not expecting anything crazy complex. Quilt blocks, stripes, whole cloth blocks, it’s all good! Only make what you are comfortable with starting and completing within a month.
• Keep any extras to a minimum. Some people feel the need to ALWAYS send extras, but since each swap is such a tight turnaround I’d encourage little to no extras.

Musts

• This swap is through Instagram, so your partner needs to be able to reach you through Instagram. Open communication is a MUST for this swap. You are expected to share your likes and dislikes, and you’re expected to post pictures of fabric pulls to ask your partner’s opinion. When your partner posts their fabric pulls for you, you are expected to respond! If you are silent throughout a month’s swap, you will be pulled from the swap and not allowed to join future months.
• Do. Not. Flake. It is absolutely fine to opt out of the following month’s swap. However, if you have been assigned a partner for the current month and you flake on them, you will be pulled from the swap and not allowed to join future months.

 

Since these will be finished blocks, you will have to figure out how to join them together. This tutorial illustrates how I am planning on joining my blocks.

I’m hoping this is going to be a really fun swap, with a big payoff at the end!