Welcome to Precious Tyes

I have many passions in life and one of them is quilting. The others are reading, knitting,
crochet, cross stitching exercise and being a mom which are all precious tyes to me.
This blog will be about all of these things but mainly about quilting and how it is tied into my life.
The above wall hanging was designed by me and published into a pattern called Homespun Memories.

My blog is also about my Nifty Fifty Quilting swaps which are 50 state quilt block swaps that I started organizing over 10 years ago when my husband was going through depression. It helped me through a very difficult time. We have swapped over 70,000 quilt blocks during this time with many stories that traveled across the country along with our state quilt blocks. Our groups also make charity quilts for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Butterflies, Butterfflies Everywhere!!!

I finished sorting out the hundreds of beautiful and unique butterfly quilt blocks this week from our Nifty Fifty 29 Butterfly Swap.  They are now flying their way across the country…..Louisiana, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, California and Oregon to name a few.

Today it is raining and nasty out but it was a beautiful day when I started to sort the butterfly quilt blocks. I decided to take advantage of the sunny mild weather and went outside with the tote of quilt blocks and started the sorting process on my picnic table.  It did not last long before the wind whipped up and lifted the butterflies up and off the picnic table.  At one point I had a bunch of butterflies literally flying away from me.  After three attempts I gave up and took them inside.


Just started sorting the butterflies.  They take up one table.


Sorting the Twenty Plenty International Quilt Blocks.
Three long tables full
It was a lot of fun sorting them and seeing each design spread out across my table.  It sure was a lot easier sorting  6 inch quilt blocks from 16 participants (everyone did 3 states) than 2500  12 inch quilt blocks from 50 participants as we had done in our other swaps.

Halfway through!!

Finished sorting and the butterflies are ready to fly across the country. 
 I took the packages to the post office today at noon.  They said delivery should be by Monday but they are not guaranteeing it.  They may take a little longer to reach the  west coast.  But I am sure you will get them sometime next week. 

I am looking forward to everyone’s comments when they first open their packages. 

So on to the next swap…..Amish.  We are picking out the fabric this week.  I am so excited for this swap since I did not participate in the other Nifty Fifty Amish Swap.
My sample Amish Quilt Block
 I have had several quilters concerned about me retiring the Nifty Fifty Swaps….who knows if an idea or unique theme takes me by storm……. I might just reconsider.  Leave a comment if you have an idea.


Search Amazon.com for butterflies  

2 comments:

  1. Wow I bet those butterfly quilts are going to be beautiful!!! Sorting blocks from 50 participants sounds kinda overwhelming so maybe it is better to have each person do 3 states. I don't have an idea right now but it seems a little sad to retire Nifty Fifty Swaps. I am thinking of an idea!

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  2. Hi Teresa,

    I saw your ad above and had the greatest idea for a quilt. How about a Dr. Seuss quilt??!! Each person could do a different character like one fish, two fish, thing 1 and thing 2 etc. It would be a fun quilt.
    Sandie Anne

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