Chester the bunny

I've done this before.
The way ours worked is everyone picked the block or theme that they wanted. You could add some fabric in the box if you wanted, some did to maintain consistency. I picked one block and included the pattern for the block, wanted it scrappy so did not include fabric.

Here is what I learned;
The quality of some of the fabric (and I'm not that picky) was... umm ....... not so great.
Everyone's 1/4" seam allowance was different so I ended up adding a 1" border on all of the blocks to square them off.

One of the ladies chose a detailed pineapple block to do in black and white and provided the paper pieced template only to realize that half of the blocks had been trimmed and the last seam allowance was now gone.

So my advice is to choose a pattern/theme that is forgiving and do it for fun, to have a quilt that your friends have worked on.

glorcour

I am involved in one right now. Basically there was no hard and fast theme. some put in only background fabrics and suggested a theme such as doors, shoes, portrait. Some included a variety of pattern templates , others just a piece of fabric and finished block size. In any case instructions were glued to the top of the box. As expected, there should be lots of finicky finishing since a 1/4 seam is not consistent. I completed one made while a member of a guild where I received 9 blocks that ranged from 6 to 10 inches. I added borders and filler blocks and ended up with a pretty nice quilt. There are lots of opportunities to exercise your brain with this project.

lynndianne

I've been in many "shoebox Clubs". Put your fabrics in a shoe box or other type of box and the boxes gets passed to others in the group. You always get another members box each month. I've turned into a "picky person" in my old age and for that reason I quilt doing the shoe box club. The last time I was not satisfied with the quality of work. I figure if I really make the effort to create a "perfect" block, others should do the same. I wasn't happy with the results in the last group. No straight edges, not all 12 inches, etc. I think everyone should try it at least once.

Geri B

From the last few responses this could be a real role of the dice.........putting myself hypothetically in this arrangement....each month I receive a different box of fabric from which I am supposed to sew the block I have chosen...12 blocks/same pattern/different fabs......now being the pessimist I am I can see at the beginning...plenty of fab, but towards the end. Could be tricky, or maybe even not possible to do my block with what's in that box.

but, thinking the whole thing thru, whatever is in my box at the end.... Will either be a tablerunner or a bed quilt......hmmm, wonder if the guild I belong to would be interested.......

Oh, another thought...when beginning this is there a max of colors to be used/ put in the box initially(fab)... Say 4 colors...therefore each block could, but not necessarily have, 4 colors in it?

sprice

I would ask that at least one other fabric be added to each block. Will make for more interesting results.

maviskw

We called ours a "Pizza Box" quilt. Pizza boxes hold your squares without wrinkling them.

fallonquilter

Wow what a fun idea. I love this kind of stuff for our small (11 person) quilt group. Thanks so much for sharing. I'll ask the girls if this is something they would like to do.

eyes

This sounds like a lot of fun but because I still get a wonky block in every quilt I make no matter how much I try for perfection I would avoid the shoebox quilt so I didn't upset the quilters with more experience.

VickiM

Gotta figure for 12 blocks of your fabric...leftovers could be used when the quilt is put together...I know I sometimes use that for cornerstones, stars in sashing, pianokey borders, etc. So, want to give the option. Also, if more blocks are wanting to be made to make quilt larger. It's up to each person how they want to put the 12 blocks together. That will be the fun of it at the end, to see what everyone comes up with for those 12 blocks. Just want to give options of still using what's in the actual blocks in the rest of the quilt.

VickiM

Everyone will be using their own fabric, so that stops the problem of "no so great fabric" & also the quilt will be in the colors of her choice for her shoebox. The only thing friends will work on are the actual blocks. The box owner then figures out how they will be put together. I agree, everyone's 1/4" seam allowance may be different...I've added borders to swaps, myself...still came out with a nice quilt. And actually it turned out larger & with a whole different look...nice surprise!