X
GO

Quilt Show Block Party

Summary

We invited our vendors to participate in a "block party" at our Quilt Show this year.  If your Quilt Shop is a vendor at a quilt show, should you participate?

Rating: Not enough ratings.
Your rating: Sign in to rate

Quilt Show Block Party

In 2019, Northcott decided to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Stonehenge fabrics with specials for quilt shops. This may have been the origin of the block party. Maybe the origin is the block kits available at Shop Hops or maybe it was even inspired by the Row by Row program.

Quilt Show Block Party

 

At any rate, we decided to ask our vendors to participate in a Block Party at our Quilt Show to celebrate our Ruby Jubilee 40th anniversary. The vendors were asked to design a block and make kits for sale at the Quilt Show. We gave them the following guidelines for the kits:

snail

 

  • Finished block should be 12" x 12"
  • Fabric colors should be red and white

 

We asked that they keep the cost between $5.00 and $8.00 if possible. Most of the kits were well known blocks such as half square triangles. We suggested that they start with 100 kits but left the decision up to them. We do know that one vendor ran out of kits and had to cut more.

red

 

One special laser cut applique kit was priced higher. It included the laser cut applique pieces, the background and binding fabrics, and the instructions. The kit also listed on the outside the additional materials needed to complete the quilt. What made this block even more special is that it celebrated our show theme of the Wizard of Oz and our challenge theme, "There's no place like home."

Westfield

 

Our Guild decided to offer our own kit for the Block Party. We purchased and cut pieces of fabric for the kit. The fabric included in the kit were not the pattern pieces but were the fabric from which the pieces could be cut. It also included a paper-pieced pattern and the instructions. We sold our kits for $5.00, and we estimate that we sold 100 of them at the Show.

Ruby

 

To answer the question of whether a quilt shop should participate, I will tell you this story. One shopper wanted to collect all the blocks for the Block Party, so she went first to the vendors that were participating in the Block Party to purchase the blocks. We had signs that let the attendees know which vendors were participating. While there, she looked over their other fabrics. She purchased additional fabric at each of the participating vendors! In fact, it turned out that those vendors were the only ones where she purchased fabric! It was a win-win for those shops.

 

Our vendors are already thinking about next year. One wondered about featuring a template and packaging it with the kit. Anyone want to do "Under the Sea"?

 

Check This Out!

Check out the most popular tool on QuiltingHub. Use the search 'Map Of Resources' or the 'Resources Trip Planner' to the right (or below).

 

Glossary

Applique
Attaching individual pieces of fabric to a background to form a design.

Same As: Appliqué


See Also: Freezer Paper Applique, Needleturn Applique, Machine Applique, Reverse Applique, Shadow Applique
Binding
Binding is used as both a noun and a verb. As a noun it is the fabric that's used to cover the raw edges of the quilt sandwich after it's quilted. This edging fabric is referred to as the Binding (noun). As a verb it is the process of putting on this fabric, and it referred to as Binding a Quilt.
Block
The basic unit of a quilt top, usually square but can be rectangular or other shapes. Blocks can be pieced, appliqued or plain.
Template
Pattern pieces made out of paper, cardboard, plastic or metal, giving you something to draw around so that you can accurately replicate any shape.
Author
Debi Warner
Author and humorist, Debi Warner, retired after many years as a clinical librarian and information specialist. She has her Master’s in Library and Information Science and achieved a Distinguished level in the Medical Library Association’s Association of Health Information Professionals. She has worked on teaching physicians to use computers and electronic resources. She also worked on several grants teaching the public how to use the National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus public database and is co-author of several articles on health literacy. She took up quilting after retirement in 2012 and chaired the Rio Grande Valley Quilt Show in 2019. She currently teaches several quilting classes over Zoom and writes for QuiltingHub.
Search Articles
Map Of Resources Near
Resources Trip Planner