Mid Atlantic Mod - II

Another aspect of Mid Atlantic Mod I really liked was the progressive quilts. These were put together by every one who participated in the activity. Each person was given some fabric and a guideline. They then made a block using the fabric that followed the guideline. During the retreat each person worked for an hour on the quilt incorporating their block to come up with a completed quilt top. The quilt tops were then raffled to the participating members at the end of the event. I really had my eye on the low volume quilt top and was bummed that I did not win, nevertheless the winners were as appreciative as I would have been. So it's all good.

The quilt tops finally looked like this.

I had made  a block for both these quilts here and here. I further switched around my block a bit before incorporating it into the quilt above but the low volume one worked as is.

One of my take aways from this exercise was that it's interesting to see how different people interpret a theme given the same parameters. It adds so much more to the quilt then what one person can possibly come up with. I am now done being the queen bee in both the bees I am participating in this year. But knowing what I know now I would have picked a less specific block design. In one bee I picked AMH's feather pattern and in the other a winged square bee block. It was great to see how everyone put the block together but at the back of mind I already knew what to expect. I already had a fixed idea and I merely asked others to execute it for me. I think it's a lot more interesting if you are faced with the unexpected. A less restrictive guideline would definitely make it a lot more interesting.

Looking back Jessica's block from our CNJMQG bee where she asked for a house block was probably the most difficult yet fun exercise. Difficult not because the block was hard to make but she had given too much freedom. It was hard to narrow it down to what you wanted to make. And all the blocks she got back were very interesting. It was each person's own interpretation of a row house. She had provided the fabric so that was the only constraint and it kind of assured here that her houses would have some uniformity in color but everything else was left to the person's interpretation.

Ah well....live and learn. Now I need to participate in one more collaborative quilt event. :)

To be continued.....