Teal mini swap

Shelly, my swap partner in this year's Teal Mini Swap, a benefit for ovarian cancer research, posted a thank you photo of the mini I made her so I feel safe in posting a photo today.   Each person received a small piece of teal fabric that we were to incorporate in our mini - it's the one with the wavy white section peeking out here and there.  I wish I had had time to applique something, but I felt somehow compelled to make a string star this year.  

I cut some light paper into 3" strips and then added "strings" of various teal fabrics from my stash along with the wavy teal we received.  I cut these on a 45 degree angle as we did for a Stack n Whack Lemoyne Star.  I removed the paper (ugh!) and sewed the diamonds together.  I was happy to find a good use for the slim outside border fabric which I have been hoarding.  

I'm so glad Shelly likes it.  I also enclosed a small teal shopping bag, a pieced key fob, and a teal fat quarter.  I hope to make more of those key fobs later this fall, but perhaps not all pieced as Shelly's was.  I bought some kits with hardware on etsy.com and plan to start working on them when we get back from Colorado next week.

Our guild had its first meeting of the "year" (which runs Sept.-June) last week, and we broke out into monthly teams to plan our programs.  Our March team will be "going green," so we'll focus on reusing and recycling.  I'm responsible for planning the block of the month for March and am already thinking of a string block, perhaps made with selvages.  I'll be testing it out later this year.  

The guild will also have a block swap and a mystery quilt this year.  For the swap, we're to make 30 blocks of any style using bright traditional cottons on a white-ish background.  We can vary the blocks but I think I'm going to make 15 string blocks and 15 Dresden Plates (there are 15 people participating).   I was hoping to use stash for the mystery quilt, but I just don't have enough of anything but the neutral for what will end up as a throw.  I headed over to Joann Fabrics Sunday at got some rather traditional prints for that.  I have not liked any of the mystery quilts I've made so far, but hope springs eternal!