July Tip

Sharing Love

Creating a Progressive Group

A great way to share ideas, techniques, creativity and love is to create a progressive quilt group. The NOQers have several going around the country right now, and you can start your own with a few hints. There are no rules written in stone, so you can design your group to fit your needs. You can also do this with your online friends or the members of your "actual reality" quilt guild.

First thing to do is gather a group that wants to do this. You can make your group any size you want, but 4-6 works well without ending up with a new pool cover or car cover.

Next decide on the rules of the progressive. They can be as loose or as strict as you want. Each person will work a step on each quilt, and always mail or deliver to the same person. At the end of the progressive you will have a quilt with a border or step done by each member of the guild. A typical list of steps may be:

1. Create a center no larger than 16x16"
2. Piece a simple border no wider than 4"
3. Create a border using triangles and rectangles
4. Create a border using applique
5. Add a finishing border and neaten up the top.

Add as many steps as you have members in the group. Decide if people have to follow the rules exactly or can add more creativity to the top. Set a start date, a mail/delivery date, and a finish date. Be creative with your steps, but don't get too creative unless you know that everyone in the group can handle it.

Have everyone send a label with the quilt, and everyone sign it, date it and maybe write something fitting on it.

Most importantly, have fun!