Looking for a fun idea for your guild? Country Lane Quilters challenged their members to make a quilt top from orphan fabric and blocks in just two hours! See the gallery below.
Last April 2022, at our first quilt retreat since COVID, the Country Lane Quilt Guild of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, were sitting around the common room at Valleyview Bible Camp near MacGregor, MB. Our venue. We were flipping through magazines and discussing our accomplishments of the day, getting ready to snuggle down in those wonderful camp beds!
One article caught our attention. The Golden Iron Quilter Challenge where quilters were divided into teams, given a specific amount of fabric and two hours to come up with a complete top. The teams were comprised of the BOSS LADY who oversaw all aspects of the quilt from inception through to completion. Her word was law. Then there were the WORKER BEES, generally 2 sewers, 1 cutter and an ironer. After 2 hours of work and good-natured ribbing the tops were judged and the lucky winners received the Golden Iron.
The Retreat organizers thought it would be great to hold our own version of the Golden Iron Quilt Challenge at our 2023 April retreat. To that end, we put out a request for donations of Orphan Blocks. The blocks could be any colour, size, quantity, or even include partially completed tops. Boy, did we rake in a ton of donations. We also accepted donated fabric.
At the retreat, the ladies were divided into 3 teams of 5 (one only had 4 members and they let us know about it). Each team was given 3 meters of a cream fabric, a design wall, and unlimited access to the tables piled with the orphan blocks and scraps of fabric, and 2 hours to complete their top. The tops had to measure 50” x 70” when complete as they were going to be quilted and donated to Victoria’s Quilts Canada (VQC) who provide handmade quilts to people living with cancer in Canada.
At “GO” the teams jumped into action, grabbing blocks and fabric, tussling the more favoured items from other teams’ hands! Pandemonium reined initially, but quickly settled down into the serious business of quilt making.
Half way through the challenge, the organizers threw a curve ball. Each team was given an additional 12″ x 2.5″ piece of primary-coloured fabric which they had to somehow insert into the quilt top. They didn’t have to use the whole piece, but it had to be visible even if it clashed!
The 2 hours simply flew by! A 5-minute warning was given and then time was up and all hands away from the quilts.
There was an obvious winner—the team of 4 who bemoaned being one team member short got their top done at the very last minute. The winners were awarded the gaudy Golden Bejeweled Iron with suitable pomp and ceremony!
The other 2 teams were very close to being finished when time elapsed, but they persevered until they got their tops completed during the afternoon.
All participants thoroughly enjoyed the challenge; completed three tops for charity; and most of all, the remaining orphan blocks went home with attendees to be made into additional tops for VQC. Even the smallest 4″ blocks were whisked away at the end of the day.
To all the participants—way to go teams. What a great bonding experience only next time lets put the design walls on the wall not the floor. Oh, my knees!
Click on the images below to enlarge and read the captions.
