The Swap

I'm doing a swap with two wonderful friends. We have no deadlines. We have no pressure to get these done. But I was at loose ends yesterday, so decided to pull out the swap container and make my next block. We're doing the Lori Smith pattern, Quilt Block Sampler.

Since there are three of us, our names were put in alphabetical order and we were assigned every third block in the quilt. Then we make three of those blocks using Civil War fabrics in the general colorways on the pattern picture.

I've run across this a time or two or three in my lifetime, but having a name that starts with a "V" isn't always fun. (If I were still in the South, the "sucking hind tit" analogy would be applied!) Really, I'm just joking. As I looked at each block last night, there are no easy ones in this pattern. Really no hard ones either, just all tedious ones. Because I know someone will ask, these are, I think, 8" blocks.

It would be great if my stash room and my sewing room with good light were on the same floor in my condo. Now don't you all start telling me that running up and down the stairs is good exercise! LOL. I've got two humongous wire baskets filled with Civil War fabrics. They're too heavy to lug downstairs. In fact, they're so heavy that I broke a nail yesterday trying to get them out of the runners and down on the floor where I could dig through them. I love those fabrics, though, and have enjoyed going through them for this project.

But about Civil War fabrics, a little goes a long way! Most of the projects I've done were itsy bitsy blocks. Heck, a fat quarter is way too much fabric for them. There is only one store about an hour or two from here that sells Civil War fabrics, and I don't get there often. If I see a particular fabric or color online that I need/want, there's usually a half yard or yard minimum order. Absolutely too much, although I have done that and regretted it. My solution is the Road to California quilt show in each January.

I hit the Schoolhouse Quilts booth first, chat with Judie and Bob Rothermel a bit, and then dive in picking and choosing what I think I will need through the year. Bob is a hoot! If any of you ever get to a quilt show they're attending, you've got to stop in and say hi to them. Their booth is always packed, so I usually run straight there when the doors open and before it fills up with quilters. Several years ago I took a four-day Robyn Pandolph workshop at R2CA. On Thursday and Friday during the day while classes were going on, and before the weekend crowd got there, it was fun to sneak down to Schoolhouse Quilts at odd times during the day. I spent so much time and money in their booth, and I think I touched everything in there at least twice. In fact, Bob said he was going to put me on their Christmas card list (or claim me as a dependent)! Since then, though, I just head over there, ask Bob what's new, and focus on just the new things.

This year I'm going to focus on red and green, mainly green. I've got oodles of blue, brown and shirtings, and a fair amount of the other colorways. Greens are sadly lacking in my CW stash. I've tried a couple of times doing fabric swaps with online friends on CWs, but I always end up getting what I don't need or already have.

Anyway, this block swap has been fun. We've got a long ways to go on it, but it really doesn't matter. I guess it just needs to be finished before we get to The Home. Or we could just get adjoining rooms! We could sit out on the veranda in our rockers, sipping mint juleps, and stitching! Wait, I don't think they serve alcohol to nursing home residents, do they? LOL

The picture shows the blocks we've swapped so far, and the three I made yesterday. I really think the best part of doing a swap with close friends is that I think of them the whole time I'm working on the block. That's a huge smile factor in itself! But it's especially nice when one of them calls, like what happened yesterday, just as you're thinking of her!

Gratitudes:

~ My friendship cup runneth over! What a blessing!

~ The joy of returning to a project that you love for a bit, and then putting it away to be enjoyed another day!

~ Last day of the long holiday break -- manicure is definitely on the agenda today!

~ Sleeping in until 6:30 this morning! I'm such a slug!