Swap blocks

I really wasn't going to do any extra swaps this year. Nope. Well, just the ones I always do! But nothing extra. And then, it happened. I was at the quilt store when they were giving instructions for the next block swap. I sat in just to hear, not to commit! But, alas, the blocks were to be RED and cream. sigh. RED??? How could I pass that up. So I joined in the fun.

We each chose a different 6 1/2 inch block to make. Then we had to go home and make 98 of them. Yes, you read that right! 98 blocks! 7 blocks for each of the 14 participants. At least I had the common sense to make an easy block. I chose to make four patch blocks.

Last Friday we swapped our blocks. I came home with 98 different blocks! After several starts and stops, I finally drew up a sketch of the quilt I want to make. It will only use 58 of my blocks, but I figure I can use the rest to make pillows and put some into the back of my quilt.

The first thing I did was turn 48 of my 6 1/2 inch blocks into 12 12 1/2 inch blocks. I had so much fun with this! Some of the blocks are simple, some are very busy, some are made up of all the same blocks, some with a variety. What do you think?

I put the brown borders on this collage because that's what color I am thinking of sashing my blocks with. Not sure about that yet, I'm still auditioning some other colors, but I do think I like the brown. I'm going to make the sashing 6 inches wide so I can use some of the other blocks as cornerstones.

I do believe I have been sucked into something new.... there has been some talk about what colors the next swap will be and I have to tell you, it sounds fabulous. Sigh. This was not my plan!

I have a couple more quilts almost finished right now & can't wait to share them with you! I must say, 2012 has started out as a very productive quilting year for me!