How do I start a friendship quilt?
 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I want to start a friendship quilt with several of my friends but not sure what to do. Have been told 9" block is a good size....there will probably be 6 of us. How many fabrics should be used and how much of each. I believe the quilt blocks are passed around and you don't see the quilt til the end which sounds exciting. We are all fairly new quilters so would appreciate any help. Thanks

I and several friends did something like this years ago, we each made a center block for our own quilt than passed it around we each added a row around the center block. When our own block came back to us we had a completed quilt top. We each placed our name some place in our row.

What you and Gamie bj are describing to me is called a round robin. Also a fund thing to do with your quilting friends. There are various ways I think of doing a friendship quilt. I think of each of you doing some blocks that have a white or neutral area that each person can sign their name and you exchange these. You can pick one pattern that you all do the same block or each person can do a particular block with some designated color or theme so they would relate to each other once put into a quilt.

It is your group and your fiends, so do what you want and enjoy the process.

Here is something of the history: http://www.womenfolk.com/quilting_hi...friendship.htm

Somewhere on this section is a thread about a group passin round a centre medallion and then next person adds a border . The one I'm thinking about have no rules so each does own thing on the newly arrived piece.they are nearly finished.
There is a second just starting the centre of one is a set. Of dragonflies. Look them up.

If you do a quilt where you start with a center medallion, which is usually 18"x18" or larger, then add rows around the center, it is called a round robin. You can also do a row robin, which is where you make a row of blocks, then pass it to the next person until everyone has made a row. I belonged to a bee that did this. We specified 6 - 9" finished blocks or 9 - 6" finished blocks so the rows would come out the same size. We had one month to finish our row, then we passed the row to the next person on the list. We had 12 people, so it took us a year for everyone to make their row, then we gave ourselves two months to sew the rows into a top.

If you want to do friendship blocks, I would consider a block exchange with a larger block, since there are only 6 of you. Each person would make 6 of the same block and would sign each one. Then you would get together and each person would get one of the other 5 blocks. If you made them 12" finished, you could then make 6 spacer blocks, then sash the blocks to make your top.

I've been in several block swaps with a small guild I'm in. We get together and decide what we're going to do and what the rules are for the particular swap. There are round robins where each person adds a "round" to the center. There are row robins where each person adds a row of blocks. There are block exchanges where you make a set number of blocks for each person.

Each one of the swaps can have any number of rules too. Like on the round robin you can make a rule for each round such as round 1 has to be appliqued, round 2 is to be pieced, round 3 has to have triangles, etc, etc. On the row robin you can do the same sort of thing but make it like row 1 is to be flower blocks, row 2 is to be house blocks, etc, etc.

For block swaps we did one were where you put your main fabrics in a plastic tub and then pass to the next person and they can make whatever block they want but they have to use at least two of your fabrics and can add one of their own if they wish. We also did a log cabin block swap where each person added three logs from their own fabric stash to the blocks. For that one each person started their blocks with the center and two logs added and then put in instructions for what they wanted added. One person requested patriotic, one person requested girl colors on the light side and boy colors on the dark side. Everybody ended up with some really pretty log cabin quilts out of that swap.

You can decide how complicated or easy to make the process. Read all the ideas and then choose the one that really sticks out to YOU

Thank you everyone for all your input.....sounds like you are all very experienced quilters. I like the idea of a block swap. How many fabrics do you recommend to start with? I think we may do the 12" block. I will discuss all your ideas with my friends and definitely checkout all the links you suggested.
My first time using a forum so thanks again for your responses:o

In my bee of eight, we did several fun swaps. One time, we each chose our own pattern and passed out kits with our own fabric and pattern for our friends to sew for us. That was fun to get to try blocks that I would otherwise not have chosen. Another time, we passed out packets of Christmas fabric and the sewist chose her own pattern in secret. Over a year's time we sewed a block of one pattern seven different times and gave these out at our Christmas party. It was so fun to see the big reveal and how each block looked in each members fabric . Most of us even finished the blocks into quilts and hung them in the guild show the next spring. One time, at Christmas, we put a UFO in a bag and each person got a bag(not her own). Then over the next year, we made something out of that UFO, and anything went! One gal made a pocket on a bag with an orphan block, another made a pot holder, another made a lap quilt, etc. it was fun to do and the surprise came when you got your own UFO back finished into something. Our guild friendship group usually chose one block, and each member was assigned a months to receive the her blocks. When that month approached, we were given guidelines, usually colors and we made the blocks out of our own scraps. We signed those blocks. Lots of fun ways to share...we also had bee days when we helped each other baste, when we used to do that! Whatever you choose, enjoy!

What you do is totally up to the group, but everyone has to agree -- size of blocks, themes, colors, etc. In my bee, we started out with a focus fabric. You had to use that fabric, but you could add whatever other fabrics you wanted. When we did the row swap, we put fabrics in a box, and each month passed the box to the next person. We also added a small notebook as a quilt diary, and the "owner" of the box wrote her theme, etc. and anything else she wanted to include about herself and her choices. Then each person added to the quilt diary, why they picked the blocks they did, how they were feeling, etc. Some of us also slipped in little gifts - one for the next quilter and one for the owner of the box.

We also did a tablerunner exchange instead of giving Christmas gifts one year. We filled out a form with our name, information, theme, house/favorite colors, etc. Then we drew one form. We then had to make a tablerunner (finished product) for that person as a Christmas gift. It was nice not to have to have 12 gifts.