Red, White and Blue Block Swap

After spending hours working on my Donation quilt... I ran out of quilting thread. I am a bit broke so I decided to put it away for a bit and work on something else that I have everything for.

At the guild meeting in July, I won the Block of the Month contest. It was a 7.5 inch Four-Patch Star. The requirements were that it be red, white and blue.

Four-Patch Star BOM

These new blocks are perfect to help me finish my Red, White and Blue Block Swap quilt. I had envisioned this RWB Block Swap to be LARGE so I could take it to sit on while watching fireworks on the 4th of July. I wasn't sure how I would finish the block swap quilt because they are a mixture of bolds/brights and reproductions. I typically would not use reproduction fabrics because I like bright colors but that's the beauty of swaps is it forces you out of your comfort zone.

Blocks I received from Red, White and Blue Block Swap.

I decided to put the swap blocks together with a white lattice to help separate the blocks that were of different tones.  I added cornerstones to break-up the overwhelming amount of white and I like how it spaced out the blocks giving the quilt more size.

Block swap with lattice.

I got two blocks (1 from each event) that really didn't fit with the others.  I've decided to include them on the back of the quilt.  They are below.

Odd ducks.

I am planning to use the BOM stars as a border around the swap blocks with some red or blue borders.  Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

The New Quilt Room

So we've moved again (it was actually 8 months ago) and I finally have my quilting room put together.  It is in a den area on the 1st floor.  While it doesn't have a closet, it has doors.  I like that I can work while my kids play in the next room but I can close the doors to keep them out of my stuff.  It doubles as one of our guest rooms but also a bed I can sleep in when I am up working too late.  So here it is->

North wall

Along the North wall, I have my ironing board, the family filing cabinet, twin bed, and my boxes of batting.

South wall

The East wall has nothing on it but a window.  My current quilting table is in the center of the room (foreground in the photo).  The South wall has my 4 project bins (UFOs) and my design wall (under construction in this photo).  My design wall will be 6 feet squared, covered in white flannel, and mounted on the wall between my project bins.  The West wall is the double doors.

I look forward to getting to work in my new quilting room soon :D