Would like some opinions please.
 

The ladies at church are going to make a quilt for our pastor and his wife for christmas. I'm in charge, probably because it was my idea, anyway one of the ladies has an embroidery business and wants to get a photo and embroider that block. i was thinking that could be the center block and design the rest of the quilt around that.
Had also thought i would cut all the blocks out and pass them out, just so all the blocks would be the same size and have eough. We are a pretty small church, really want it to turn out nice. What are other ideas, maybe some of you have done church quilts? Thanks for any ideas.

What about signing the blocks, and then do borders around the blocks to complement the colors of the embroidery of the center block?

Are you thinking each person in your group would design their own block? There will be quite a variety in the results. An autograph quilt would make it very personal, and non-quilting members should be invited to participate.

If you are not familiar with the "Prayers and Squares" project, you might like to visit their website at prayerquilt.org for ideas. Although their emphasis is on making quilts for people with illness or tragedy, the concept of whole congregation participation might apply to your situation.

Best wishes on the project -- your paster is blessed to have members like you in the congregation who care so much for him.

Just because you cut out all the blocks doesn't mean they will all turn out the same size, LOL. That is the primary problem with group projects IMHO. I do like the idea of autograph blocks so that everyone can participate, even the children and <gasp> the men.

LOL I was thinking the same thing- even though you cut the blocks every machine has its own 1/4" so they still may end up different sizes .
What about paper piecing a church ?
You could also try pictures on fabric from special events

I saw a snowball quilt done by some church women. Each block was a muslin or light tone on tone and had a differnet blue fabric in the corners. I think each was made by a different person. The inside of the blocks had messages and signatures written in them. Very nice. The center block could be a snowball embroidered.

I work in a hospital and a group of us made a raffle quilt. Instead of one person buying all the fabric we ask that everyone Make a certain block. We planned a fairly simple block everyone was comfy with and ask that they be a Christmas red or green, no pinks , blues ect. When those were completed we met and did the lay out then we all took a row to put together. We sent ittobe quilted then met as a group to do the binding. We made a few thousand for the hospital childrens Christmas charity store.

Our quilt group made a quilt to be auctioned off. The only rule was that the blocks would come out 12.5 inches and be country red, white and blue. Well you can imagine that not all the blocks were 12.5. But we did some fudging and the quilt came out beautiful. It has the character of the group. We are all different, just like the blocks, but we get along wonderfully, just like the quilt. It was a fun project and we are very proud of it.

The moral of my ramblings is that it doesn't have to be perfect, just a reflection of the love each of you have for your pastor and his wife.

What I was thinking , that I will put the quilt together after all the blocks are done. One of my biggest issues is wanting something done a certain way and just doing it myself. I don't want to do that, i want all the ladies involved. Thought I might cut the blocks, give them a color scheme and let them make their own block. Use the embroidered photo for the center. maybe she will also embroider a label for the back with all our names, rather than a signature quilt. Thanks for all your ideas, I don't know how many are sewers or quilters. I'm gone from home for at least another month.

I thought about this, we're building a new church, a photo quilt would be nice, the photo's can be put on fabric.