A Secret Swap

I have had so much fun participating in a swap on Instagram. Here's my quilt that I'm sending to my secret swapmate. I can't tell you her name or where she's from,because it's a surprise.

The swap was announced on Instagram and the basis was paper pieced patterns designed by #quietplay. Paper piecing has had a resurgence. It's a technique where fabric is stitched into a paper foundation. About 8-10 years ago, it was brought to popularity by Carol Doak and was used to get perfect points when piecing such motifs as stars. It has also been used to achieve very intricate pieced patterns. Lately, it has become the rage with some young ,odeon quilters. The detail is amazing and there are lots of pieces. You can see #quietplay's patterns at www.quietplay.blogspot.com. She says that her most popular pattern is the Geometric Sewing Machine. Isn't it cool?

There were 305 people that signed up for the swap. We each filled out a questionnaire with some choices for a pattern, our favorite colors and fabric choice and if there was anything we really didn't like. The swap organizer then assigned us a swapmate, and we were split into manageable size groups. My group was #qpteamamerica4 (Quiet Play Team America 4). The person I was making a mini quilt for, was not who was making a quilt for me. From the options my swapmate gave me, I chose to make the Geometric Elephant.

It was a downloadable PDF pattern. What's cool about this, is that you print it yourself anywhere in the world. There's no shipping charge and if you want it immediately at midnight, you can have it. Now that's immediate gratification.

My swapmate also gave some fabric choices. I chose pink.

As the making of the swap progressed, I posted photos to our IG group and said "Swapmate, what do you think?" Of course my swapmate didn't know it was for her, so I would receive lots of comments from the group as to whether they liked it or not. I looked for my swapmate's answer to guide me through my choices, because I want her to love her quilt.

There were a lot of sections and some of them had tiny pieces.

I couldn't wait until the elephant came together.

This was the point where I became uncertain as to the taste of my swapmate. Would she like the quilt simple as above or with a pieced border?

I loved the triangle border, but the quilt wasn't for me. I posted both the simple quilt and the tricked out quilt on IG and kept my fingers crossed that she would reply.

There were lots of comments. Some liked the plain and some liked the triangle border. I waited and kept my fingers crossed that my swapmate would leave a comment. These borders made a big difference. Finally, she commented and I was so happy that she liked the pieced border. Yay!

I used a paper foundation that I designed to piece the border and I loved using the wonder clips to hold it in place while stitching instead of pins.

The swap deadline isn't for a few weeks, so I'll have to wait to ship it out, and I can't wait to receive my quilt. I'll share it when it arrives, but honestly, I have had so much fun making the Pink Elephant.

If you want to follow me on IG, I'm @oyveyquilts. Maybe we'll end up being in a swap together one day.

 

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