Tuesday, February 19, 2013

All My Friends are Stars

    The January 1996 issue of "Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts", featured a challenge quilt made by friends,
When I showed the article to our International Quilt Circle, everyone thought it would be a fun challenge.


I gave one meter of the above fabric to each member who wanted to participate. She was to add her own fabric, picking up a color from the feature fabric, and make 12 blocks, 10 x 10 inches. A date was set for the exchange and then each member would arrange those 12 blocks into a quilt.

This was a fun project for me and the resulting quilt is most often on the bed in the loft, well used and loved.

My quilt group has under-gone many changes. Of course many members have left Japan. Some have quit for reasons unknown, and only a small core remains. The biggest joy is when we hear from a former member who will return for a visit.

Next week will be one of those joyous gatherings! I am as excited as a school girl! Linda Franlkin will be here and what remains of our group will gather to celebrate an old friendship.


Here is the block made by Linda. After my quilt was finished, I got a package of signature blocks. Some of out group put these blocks into the front or backing of their quilts. I wish I had thought of that. I still have these blocks and am now thinking of how I might use them in a pillow or something to go with this quilt.
The size is big enough for a five inch square. They are a variety of colors and prints.

Since the quilt is a star, perhaps turning each block into the center of a star block using similar colors to what was used in each block??? The interesting thing is, when I selected the feature fabric, I picked a print with basic colors that would not be hard to match up. It seems each quilter picked up a different fabric and the blocks are quite different.

A picture of the finished quilt was shown in "Quilt Presents Sampler Quilts #13" c.1999.

7 comments:

  1. Lovely, and interesting how each member adds their own colour to contrast or compliment the original fabric. Love the purples. Cheers from Jean

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  2. It's amazing how many different ideas a group will come up with. I like that butterfly you ended up with.

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  3. what fun xx seeing what others do with the same fabrics is always facinating xx

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  4. What a fun way to do things with friends!

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  5. What a neat and fun thing to do!

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  6. Julie I am almost always amazed at the creativity that comes out of a challenge like this. And the thought of renewing friendships from a time ago....thrilling. blessings, marlene

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  7. The fabric you chose is truly inspiring, as is the idea of this exchange. I can well see this is a Friendship Star quilt.

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