Bird Nest block by Joanne Adams Roth |
The whole thing starts with a block contest, where participants are usually given some material and instructions on the theme. Most of the time, the cost for the material is $1, but last year it was 39 cents! The blocks are revealed at our annual quilt show in April, and the visitors to our show get to vote on their favorite. The person with the most votes wins and gets a cash award and their block gets made into a guild pin. After the quilt show, the organizer sews the blocks into a top and gets it quilted. This quilt then becomes our raffle quilt for the following year. Tickets are sold over the course of our fiscal year and the proceeds of the raffle go to a local non-profit that we choose each year. The winner of the raffle of course gets the quilt. This means that we have 3 raffle quilts going at all times. The current one was a block contest 2014/2015. The next one is being made and will become out raffle quilt in July 2017. And this block will go into the quilt that will be raffled starting in July 2018.
This year, we were given a really cool off white background with a hint of sparkle in it and were told to make a spring themed bird house block, 9" square. We could also make bird nests and add embellishments, as long as they were soft.
Guess what I decided to do? A nest, of course. We weren't supposed to have any raw edges, so I sandwiched the nest materials between two layers of tulle and sewed it all together pretty tightly. I'm hopeful that it will be accepted.
I added 3 eggs, a bird, and lots of embroidery embellishment.
Here was my sketch for the block. As you can see, I change things up quite a bit between concept and finished product.
I hope you like it!