Suggestions for a group or friendship quilt

[quiltermidwife]

I'm planning on organising a group/friendship quilt. What advice can you give me (I haven't organised one of these before) and do you have any suggestions of quilt patterns to tackle or work from.

Thanks

[calicokat]

Is it going to be online or in person? That will make a difference.

[quiltermidwife]

Kat

It will be in person for a mutual friend

[witha'K'quilting]

First of all decide on fabric type/colors.

All batik perhaps..or scrappy, Thimbleberries, bright, etc.

If scrappy, decide on a range of colors maybe. Browns/greens/beige/blues or bright scrappy (no dark tones).

Choose a great pattern...I love any of the ones on Bonnie Hunter's site http://www.quiltville.com

They all work up really nicely and look great in scrappy fabrics.

Have fun and remember who the quilt is for...it makes it easier to marathon piece I think.

[Hollyrw]

1. Choose a pattern that will be easy for everyone. Or, choose a color scheme and have everyone choose their own block.

2. Set a deadline and STICK TO IT. It's not fair for everyone else if one or two people don't finish on time.

3. Be prepared for the blocks to be different sizes. Everyone's idea of a 1/4 inch seam is different.

[quiltmonkey]

Another thing to consider......

Remember, everyone's 1/4" is slightly different... so if they don't square up to size, you will have lots of blocks of various sizes.

That said... Choose a pattern (relatively simple) where the instructions are very clear (illustrations help) and also explains where you have to "SQUARE UP" the piecing along the way / square up as your friends are putting their blocks together.

[ffq-lar]

I echo Shana's concern on block size. One way to overcome that issue is to use paper-piecing designs. Even large traditional blocks can be paper pieced easily. That way you end up with correct sizes. You may want to have your first meeting be a mini-tutorial on paper piecing though! And you should also print the patterns from the same computer/printer so they are the same size, if you decide to go this route.

[Sandra Darlington]

Chris,

This sounds like a great idea, and it seems you are getting good advise from the group. Keep us posted on what you decide to do. I think this is interesting.

[LadyLake]

One of my favorite group quilts, was a basket block quilt. Everyone made a basket block of their choice in green and pink with off-white background fabrics.

One way to get around the problem of different sized blocks, is for the person who puts the blocks all together to add sashing around each block and then cut to a specific size.

Flexibility is definitely the key with group quilts, but then end up being a treasured original.

[lym95]

My SILs and a few friends (last count we were at 10) are doing our second group quilt. We are using the pattern Ranchers Daughter, we are each making one and they all will be scrappy. I made up the quilt as a donation quilt for the Catholic school I teach at first, so I already know a few adjustments to make: we are making it bigger, so 16 fat quarters and 5 yards of background fabric. Also cut 81/2 in sq, instead of 3/8, trim after piecing. Link to pattern by Debbie Caffrey:

http://www.debbiescreativemoments.com/free-patterns/ranchers-daughter-instructions.pdf

[RitaR]

Marjorie, that quilt is gorgeous and with the few shapes would be wonderful for scraps of which I have a`20 gallon container full, so downloaded instructions and will see what we can come up with. a lot of my scraps are pieces of binding I made and they are left overs, or I didn't use on the quilt.

Thank you so much for pointing out that pattern.

RitaR

[witha'K'quilting]

And Debbie Caffrey's patterns go together so well. Rancher's daughter is a beautiful pattern.

[Neher-in-law5]

Are you doing blocks by each, or them helping you create the overall top?

I just spent yesterday from 10 am to 9 pm at church masterminding the making of two prayer quilt tops. One of the patterns was a block 8.5 cut square, with 2 strip units of 2.5 cut on the left of each 8.5 square. Then the row layout was decided and the final unit to make the full block was another strip unit of 3 pieces, again a 2.5 cut, that was sewn on the top of the 8.5 unit of the first row down, and the second row had the 3 piece unit sewn to the bottom of the 8.5 unit. It worked out great and there was enough movement in the layout that you didn't look for corners that matched perfectly. My top was 16 blocks (1/2 were lavender embroidered blocks, the other half were a print fabric block) the whole top was 60 inches wide and 68 long (includes the border). The blocks were laid out in a 4x4 pattern. Then we had a 4 inch border on it.

have fun with yours.