Saturday Sampler

I have to show off a previous Saturday Sampler project - this one from a couple of years ago, that I just got quilted a few months ago. This particular quilt is done is Christmas fabrics and quilted with a pretty gold thread using an edge to edge design.

I have to tell you that it's a very small world. When I did the giveaway about a month ago, Sandi, at http://crazyboutquilts.blogspot.com/, won the Halloween kit. A few days later, she posted a photo of a quilt that she had finished - and it was this exact pattern but done in black and white. I commented that it was the same as our Saturday Sampler - and it turns out her mother lives 25 miles away from me and it actually WAS the same Saturday Sampler project. Isn't that just crazy? So Sandi - here is my version.

More about the Saturday Sampler . . . . . . Our local quilt shop, The Pin Cushion, has been doing the Saturday Sampler for quite a few years now. I've particiated for about 6 of those years. On the second Saturday of the month, we go to a 9:00 AM demo of the new block. We pay for the first month, and then if we return the next month - on time, with our block done - then we get the current month for free. We get the fabric and the pattern for one block. It's always a surprise to see what the block will look like. And the participants are encouraged to bring Show 'n Tell projects to share with the group. There's often standing room only.

Each year the theme has been different and the fabric choices are different. The one pictured above was a choice between Christmas fabric and black/white. One year was a row quilt done in either 1930's reproduction fabrics or Thimbleberries fabrics. Last year was baskets and I chose the batiks. Another year was all star blocks.

This year the blocks are all done using 2 1/2 inch strips - and called "Favorite Things". We got our second-to-last block this weekend at Saturday Sampler. In November we'll get the final block and a book with setting ideas. In December the shop will host a tea, and everyone brings their finished tops to show off. Quite a few of the ladies will actually come with a finished quilt - quilted and bound. The fun thing is that no 2 quilts will ever be identical even though the blocks and main fabrics are the same. Everyone puts them together in a unique way. It's so much fun to see how others put the same blocks together.

Here is my Saturday Sampler from about 2004. The setting was so easy to do and shows off all of the blocks nicely. This is one of my favorite quilts - especially after it was quilted. I kept this one for myself and it is on the bed in my guest bedroom.