Hi friends!  Today I'm sharing a fun

quilt I made with some blocks I received

in a block swap.

This was a project I participated in with my local quilt group.

We do swaps a few times a year.  This time, our swap coordinator

sent out some simple instructions for these lattice blocks along with

some earth-tone color palette pictures for inspiration.

We swapped sets of 40 blocks each month for 3 months.  We could swap more than one set if we wanted to...but I only did one set each month.  That gave me 120 blocks and then I made 104 more blocks on my own for a total of 224 blocks.  I probably should've just made more sets to swap but I wasn't sure what my plan was at the time.  Oh, and one set of fabrics could not be repeated more than 7 times so that we had lots of variety.

We were asked to not trim or press the blocks before swapping so everyone could do that themselves, according to their own preference and with their own ruler.  I tried to stay on top of the pressing and trimming each month so I wouldn't have to do it all at the end.

After I had all the blocks pressed and trimmed I spent a long time laying them out in rainbow (ish) order from top to bottom.  I have never spent so long laying out blocks before!  There is no exact science to this method.  I only focused on the triangle colors and didn't worry about the colors of the skinny rectangle pieces.  I tried to create balance.  It's not perfect but it's pleasing to my eye.  I did a 14 x 16 block layout so it would be symmetrical.  I made the last few blocks at this stage so I could see what colors I still needed.

I stacked all the blocks up in rows and numbered them with my Marilee's Numbered Pins 

to keep everything in order.  Then I sewed them together using the web piecing technique.

Click HERE to get a free PDF describing how to do that method.  I love it because it saves time and thread!

Can I be honest here for a sec...?

When we first started the swap I thought this was going to be the ugliest quilt ever!
Haha!  I did not see how all of these fabrics were going to come together.

But once I got them all laid out I started to really like it.  Oh, and in case you're wondering I did use all the blocks I was given except for a few that the seam allowances were really tiny or the middle rectangle was too wide.  Those kinds of things happen in a swap.  But I didn't hold out any because of their color.

P.S. There are lots of ways you could put these blocks together.  Some people did

a scrappy layout.  Some people put four blocks together and then sashed

those.  I wanted to do something different so this is what I came up with.  They all turned out really cute though.  They're all so scrappy.  Swapping blocks was "the way to go" with this quilt!

I backed my quilt with some fabric that I just so happened to have in my stash.

It's called Francesca in Mediterraneo from the Nonna collection by Guicy Guice for Andover.

I love that it incorporated so many earth-tone colors!

I had Jen Ostler quilt it with the Glass Castle panto by Karlee Porter.  I hadn't used that panto before but I really liked the movement it gave to the front of the quilt and it complimented the backing fabric nicely (it's a little hard to see in the picture but the background of the backing fabric has a similar design).

I finished binding it while I was at a quilt retreat in Montana last week.

My friend Brooke and I took our quilts down to the lake to get some pictures and 

I love how this one turned out!  It was windy and we were laughing so hard.

Isn't her smile and the lighting so great?!?

It was a fun project!

There are always some issues when you participate in a swap but 

overall I'm so glad I participated in it!  I love how this quilt turned out.

So worth it!

I've been asked many times for details on this block so I've created a simple PDF

with instructions and the details on my specific quilt.  Click HERE to get that

and let me know if you have any questions!

Happy quilting!

Positive Vibes Quilt

 Hello, hello!  I finally got some pictures of my 

finished Positive Vibes quilt that I want to share with you today!

I got her quilted a while ago but I am so slow at binding these days

and I'm even slower at getting pictures!

I designed this pattern to go along with my recent fabric collection

with Poppie Cotton called Treasured Threads.  The little rectangles in it

remind me of stitching.

It's fat-quarter-friendly and the pattern comes

with instructions for 2 size options - baby and throw.

I hosted a quilt-along for it in March and April of this year.

I even taught a few Positive Vibes classes for different guilds

recently and it is so fun seeing the different colorways people choose.

It's cute in every colorway!

I would say the skill level on this pattern is advanced beginner.

It has an on-point layout (so the blocks are turned 45 degrees).  

It's not much harder to sew a quilt this way.  

You just sew diagonal rows of blocks with triangles on the ends - 

to square it up.

I had my quilter, Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah quilt it for me.

She used the Diamond Loops pattern and I love it!

I think the diagonal lines and the curvature of the loops really compliment

the pattern and the fabrics!

I love a good scrappy binding and this one does not disappoint!

This quilt finishes at 71" x 85".  

A nice large throw-size quilt!

Glad to finally have her finished and photographed!

If you'd like to snag a copy of this pattern you can

visit my Etsy shop HERE.

And you can check out the two-color 

baby version I made HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I'd love to hear what you think about this quilt

and let me know if you have any questions.