Announcing the Supernova Friendship Block Swap

Beginning in May, my friend

Here’s a good look at the gorgeous Supernova quilt from Lee at Freshly Pieced.

It’s a classic.

Sandra and I figured that there might be a few people like us who missed out on Lee’s original QAL last year.  SO… we are reviving it and adding a new twist.  A friendship twist!

We’ll add additional questions on our blog each month for you to answer too.  Sandra’s a journalist, and I’m a psychologist, so we’re both pretty adept at asking questions!

By the time we finish with the quilt I am sure we will develop a wonderful friendship.  What’s not to love about that?

Sandra and I invite you to choose a friend, near or far, and get started.  It will be so much fun!

Here are the details:

1. Find your partner. It can be someone who lives nearby or an invisible blogging friend you’ve never met in person, but ideally, it should be someone you don’t know well. Neither you nor your partner needs to have a blog to participate. Just leave a comment on this post if you plan to participate. Provide a link back to your blog (if you have one), or with your email, and we’ll include your name on our Supernova blogroll.

2. Choose a color palette, e.g., blues and golds, black and white, warm or cool, or a fabric line to use in your blocks.   Check out the site Design Seeds for help with choosing a beautiful palette.

3. Each month you’ll make two identical Supernova blocks; one you’ll keep and send the other to your swap-pal. Your pal will do the same thing for you. The deadline to send your first block to your partner is June 15. The remaining blocks will be due July 15, Aug. 15, Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. Your finished quilt will be comprised of both your blocks and your partner’s blocks, making it a very special finish… like none other.

4. Hop on over to Freshly Pieced for the fabric requirements and the guidelines for planning, cutting and piecing your blocks.  Lee has already spelled out all the details for us!  It couldn’t be easier.  Sandra and I will post tips and tricks along the way.

5. If you’re a blogger, write a post announcing your plans to participate and be sure to link back to either this post or Sandra’s announcement so we can get the word out to more people in the quilting world. The more the merrier.  You can also copy the Supernova Friendship Block Swap Button, found on my sidebar, and add it to your blog.

6. Each month, we’ll have a question or two for you and your partner to answer and send with your block. Month 1 is a list of 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me. They can be as silly or as serious as you would like. (Here’s an example of a 25 Things List published in US Magazine, by actress Kerry Washington).

7. For bloggers, when you post your progress each month, include at least one new thing you learned about your partner (with his or her permission, of course!) from our follow-up questions, and include links back to Stephanie’s and my blogs.

8. Post photos of your blocks on the Supernova Friendship Block Swap group on Flickr. To be eligible for the prize, you both have to post photos of your completed quilts. (Make sure your name is attached to them in some way so we know who you are.)

9. Make a new life-long friend and end up with a gorgeous Supernova quilt to memorialize the development of a beautiful new bond.

To sweeten the deal, we’re even offering a prize to the winning partnership, judged by none other than Lee herself! We are working on putting a fun prize package together.  So far, we know that the prize package will include:

• a signed copy of the book, Vintage Quilt Revival, by Katie Clark Blakesely, Lee Heinrich and Faith Jones
• a copy of Judi Madsen’s book, Quilting Wide-Open Spaces,
• and a gift certificate to Green Fairy Quilts.

For our fabrics, Sandra and I have chosen Splendor 1920 by Bari J. as a base.  I will be taking the cool palette and Sandra will be working with the warm.  Both will be complemented by additions from our stashes. We’ll use Art Gallery’s Linen White as a background fabric.

Have you felt how soft Art Gallery fabric is?  It’s in a category all its own as far as quilting cottons go.

Since the blocks are so large (18″ unfinished), we’ll each make five, one per month. That’ll give us enough for the quilt top and an extra block to use on the back, or we can use it to make a mini quilt.

The fabulous thing about the Supernova pattern is just how different it can look depending on the fabrics you use. Check out these two very different approaches:

If you haven’t seen Vicki’s blog at Sew Inspired, or Patrick’s at Straight Stitching Singer, you definitely should. They both have lots of inspiration for this project and lots of others too!

Well, what do you think?  Are we crazy, or does this sound like fun?

C’mon, please join us.  Send us a comment today!  And if you just can’t figure out who to partner with, leave me a comment, along with your basic style… modern, traditional, modernitional…. colors or fabric lines you love, etc.  I will keep track of interested singles and try to make some friendship matches!

**If you leave me a comment about participating and you don’t get an email back from me in 48 hours, then you’re probably a no reply blogger. I will reply directly to your comment on my blog, and hopefully you’ll check back and give me your email.  I don’t want to miss you!