Guild Challenge Blocks--Working Via A Committee

 

One block

Goal number seven on my August list was to work on the challenge blocks. I didn't think that I would be able to share this project because generally the project is kept under wraps until it is revealed the month after the guild quilt show. 

Such a variety in the blocks

I decided that I could share the blocks and some of the progress that we made last Sunday when five committee members gathered to make a start on assembling the blocks into a quilt.

Instruments, treble clefs and piano keys

Guild members made these blocks for the block contest last year. The theme of the contest was music and the contest was titled "As Noted." 

An arrangement of notes

Participants were to make a block that represented music. If notes and/or words were used, the notes and words should be represented in black. Background fabric should be cream. Finished size of the block could be six inches by six inches, or nine inches by nine inches or six inches by twelve inches. Any other colors could be used. No hard embellishments, machine embroidery was okay.

Chopin made an appearance

More than sixty blocks were submitted. On one block, the maker wrote, "Swift Power." So even Taylor will be part of this quilt! Quilt show attendees voted on their favorite block.

The bird in this group was the contest winner

A few blocks contained words that were lyrics. The creativity of our members is always amazing. 

Some of the words in the blocks

Of course, the challenge was figuring out a way to put all of the blocks together into a quilt! When we met to determine the challenge, there was a consensus among the committee members to turn the blocks into a quilt that had a modern feel. Going in the modern direction would challenge all of us!

After the block contest, we had an e-mail conversation about possible setting options. When the committee members ran into one another, they had conversations about the blocks. I drew four thumbnail sketches and emailed the sketches to the group. The blocks provided the inspiration for my sketches.

More notes and piano key blocks

The finished quilt will become the guild opportunity quilt for the year 2025. A committee will be showing it a various events around our community and selling tickets. The proceeds of the  ticket sales will go to a charity that the membership selected via a vote.

Stitching strips

Last Sunday was the first time that I saw the blocks in person. The blocks shared in this blog are not all of the the blocks. Even with the partial representation here, it is easy to see the variations of the blocks! We chose to group blocks into sets of four. Were the parameters of the contest followed? Nope! Cream fabric wasn't used and the blocks are a variety of sizes. We plan to make it all work. . .somehow!

We spent about four hours determining a design, drawing a huge musical motif and stitching strip sets. The musical design we drew is planned for the center of the quilt.

Terry(me) sewing strip sets

One person ironed, two people sewed and two people cut strips and strip sub sets. With that many hands working, we made great progress.

Su at the pressing station

Sharron and Linda H. cut strips. They also pressed seams and fabric for cutting. 

Checking the strip sets

At our third hour of being together, we decided that we had enough strips cut and enough strip sets made and subcut so we could "see" if our design idea was going to work.

Linda H. auditioning strip sets and noting which
blocks were selected as quartets.

Next we laid out some of the sashing to audition our idea. We liked what we saw so Terry and Linda P  stitched the rows together.

Linda P with her first quadrant of blocks

While we embraced the improv technique, it still took us time to stitch a quadrant of four blocks together. With Linda H.'s help, Terry K pieced a quadrant too! Su shared it for the camera.

Su held up a second quadrant of blocks.

Terry took home the extra music fabric since she volunteered to piece a back for this projects. We all felt like we made great progress. Fingers crossed we have a successful sew day next week too! 

You've had a sneak peak at the blocks and met the committee members.  The members all have good ideas, take on tasks without being asked and are kind to each other. It's a pleasure to be part of the "play" for this project! Let's see if we are able to construct a modern quilt out of these blocks! Likely, you won't get more peaks; but, I will share the back when I get it pieced!