Pick 'n' Mix Swap

About the swap: The Pick �n� Mix Swap is a quilters� block swap which developed as an offshoot of the online quilting community BQL (British Quilters List).

In late 2001, our organiser, Kathryn, suggested on BQL a block swap wherein each participant would in turn receive blocks made to her own specifications (rather than the more traditional kind of swap where participants make a given number of identical blocks). In the end, 19 quilters formed the offspring list, Pick �n� Mix Swap. Kathryn then asked each of us to specify preferences for a block in terms of style and colour, but without being too specific (for instance, it was fine to ask for flowers, but not to ask everyone to make appliqued tulips), as we had several beginners in the group, and she didn't want anyone to get too discouraged or disheartened.

Once every three weeks it would then be the turn of one member to receive from each of the other 18 quilters a block made to those preferences. The basic inspiration for this swap came from an earlier swap on BQL, organised by Jayne Hill (The "Official Birthday Block Swap"), which Kathryn had come to BQL too late to participate in herself.

In addition to the potential difficulties posed by including members of varing skill degrees and interest areas, there can be difficulties with this type of swap in the final unifying design for the quilt or quilts, but we are sure you'll agree when you see the finished quilts that this has been tackled admirably by our members, and has resulted in some truly unique quilts. We all feel that the diversity among our members has been the strength of the group and that our blocks and the resulting quilts are much richer for it.

If your group is interested in forming a similar kind of swap, a copy of our guidelines can be obtained by contacting Kathryn at [email protected] (remove the word "nospam" and the first dot to use this address).

About the people: This group is comprised of quilters of varying levels of ability and quilting interest - some prefer piecing, some applique; some of us have been quilting for many years, some are relatively new; some are machine quilters, some prefer hand quilting. This can potentially make a swap more complicated, but it's also more fun. We agreed that these issues weren�t that important, so long as each member did her best to make the best block she could for each other member, to that person�s preferences.

The members are mainly from the British Isles, though we do have two farther afield � Elaine is from New Zealand, and Kay lives in Singapore. Within the rest of the group, we range all over Britain, including Ingrid in Northern Ireland.

After setting up this swap, we found that we quickly gelled as a virtual quilting group, and we spend much time discussing all manner of things, both quilt related and personal, in addition to talking about the blocks we are making for each other. Many of us hope to continue working on quilt projects together after the initial swap concept is completed.

Through the course of the swap, several members had significant events in their personal lives, and being quilters, we all marked the occasions with quilts or quilt blocks. The group made two surprise quilts, one for a member going through a rough time and one for Kate, who had a baby towards the end of the swap. We also made heart blocks for two other members who had events happen in their personal lives.

At some point towards the end of the swap, the idea was floated that it would be nice to have a group showing, with as many finished quilts as possible. As one of the members has strong ties to Hever Quilt Show, it was suggested that we not only show our quilts there, but all interested members meet locally for a quilt retreat weekend. This was a huge success, and will probably be repeated next year - and who knows, perhaps for many years to come. The idea of a show also gave many of us the incentive to actually finish quilts that otherwise might have taken several years to complete! Not everyone was able to finish their quilt or quilts in time for the show, but we had quite a few, including Kay's quilt, all the way from Singapore. We also spent the weekend working on some Project Linus quilts and doing some mini workshops, presented by various members.

About the website: This website was developed so that we would have more space to display our blocks and, in time, finished quilts, and so that we would be able to share them outside the group itself. Each member has her own page or pages, which can be reached using the navigation bars on the side. Here you can read a bit about her preferences for blocks and see the blocks and (eventually!) the finished quilt. There is also a page with links to only the finished quilts, but we recommend you take the time to look at the individual pages and watch the progress of each woman's project from blocks to finished quilt or quilts.

In addition, we have a page with links to other websites of interest, including (but not limited to) our personal pages or the pages of organisations we are involved with.