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Bento Box Block Swap

Love them or hate them, block swaps are always a challenge. What colors do YOU choose? How do you lay it all out when your blocks arrive? I always enjoy the swaps provided by my friend Martha Dill Lindberg and the latest is Bento Box Block Swap.

Bento Box Block Swap Creative Quilters Guild
The first group that I was able to share this quit with was the Creative Quilters Guild of Ellis County.   
I was visiting this great group to present “From Kits to Custom” and we have a wonderful time!

First to Finish my Blocks

It was very exciting to be the first person to send their blocks in to Martha.

My Bento Block
When the time came to get my package with all the blocks I would put together, I had a special gift!
 
Bento Block Swap First in gift

This lovely pin is very special and I wear it often.

Quilt Assembly

Decisions, decisions! As soon as the blocks arrived, I previewed many layouts to decide on what made me the happiest. I even put the blocks together and viewed them in color and black and white.

Bento Box Block Swap color to black and white
I like doing this to see what sort of contrast I can expect. In this case, things were a little muddled. This was not surprising considering the scrappy nature of the blocks.
 
Because of this, I chose to do a dramatic black sashing between the blocks. This served two purposes.
 
  1. This layout adds contrast
  2. By separating the blocks, the differences are less noticeable.
It goes without saying that consistency is the main challenge to block swaps. Each block comes from a different person using a different machine with different fabrics. By separating them with sashing, you just don’t see this.
 
Recently, I shared this quilt with my own Guild – Johnson County Quilt Guild.
Bento Box Block Swap JCQG

E2E Quilting

These blocks are crazy and with so much going on, I didn’t want to add to the fray. For this reason, I chose a simple E2E Pattern, Morning Glory.

Here are a couple closer views:

Bento Block Swap Close 2
Bento Block Swap Close

Quilt Back

While the back does not show the E2E in obvious fashion, the label I created is pretty cute.

Bento Box Block Swap Label and Back

I can’t wait for Martha’s next block swap – do you swap?

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Name: Bento Box Block Swap
Size: 56 x 74
Quilting Pattern: Morning Glory
Thread: Glide Titanium
Batting: Warm & Natural 80/20
 
If you want to see more projects 
  1. Visit the Blog Page on my Website
  2. Join the Facebook group Sewing and Quilting with Robyn.  Here you can not only see what I am up to, but also share your own projects!
 
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