28 Apr Swap Inspirations

The Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild met last Wednesday night.  Most months we have some sort of swap going.  Sometimes it is just a fat quarter swap and other times it involves things we’ve each made.

Our theme for this month’s swap was “Frank Lloyd Wright.”  I definitely had to participate in that one since I’m a big fan of FLW’s architecture.  I made this mini quilt/mug rug/whatever (it is about 6″ x 14″) that was inspired by some of the houses he designed.  I associate FLW with strong horizontal lines and high windows, so I reflected that in my design.

As luck would have it, Jenna and I ended up with each other’s items.  She got my mini and I got this great notebook cover she made!  The background is quilter’s linen and the rest of the design, inspired by one of FLW’s window designs, is stitched.  I haven’t broken it in yet, but I will soon!  It is resting on top of the mess of fabric on my cutting table 🙂

We always use the “Yankee Swap” method.  In case you aren’t familiar with this idea here’s how it works:  Slips of paper are prepared with numbers equaling the number of people/items participating in the swap.  Everyone draws a number.  Number one chooses first.  They choose which of the items on the swap table they would like (we always wrap ours).  The person with #2 goes next.  They can either “steal” them item chosen by #1 or pick a new item from the ones on the table.  Person #3 chooses or “steals” next and so on.  If anyone is “stolen” from, they get to have another turn either picking a new item or “stealing” a different one.  They may not “steal” back the item which was “stolen” from them.  This continues until everyone has had a turn and then person #1 gets a final chance to “steal”.  No item may be “stolen” more than three times.

It is a lot of fun when you have a big group and a bit of “stealing” goes on.  When the group is smaller, though, we all have a tendency to stick with what we pick off the table.  We discussed this a little this week as to why nobody was stealing  and decided the curiosity to open the next item on the table is greater than the desire to steal an item already opened.

Next month’s theme is “Metamorphosis” – I’m not much for butterflies on my quilts, so I have some thinking to do on that one!