This year we introduced a formal guild Block of the Month program lead by BOM leader, Kathy S. The start of the program was a bit of a mystery with members picking out fabric palettes in January and then building a series of blocks from February through July.
As part of our SVMQG Digital events on the third Thursday evening of each month, Kathy hosted a BOM Sew Lab where members would bring their latest blocks and sit and sew or ask questions and get feedback from Kathy and other participating members.
It was nice to have some dedicated time to meet up and talk about the BOM together as a group at the Digital Thursday BOM Sew Lab.
In August, members were encouraged to play around with design and layout.
By the December meeting, where members were asked to bring their finished quilts, we had over 20 members show their finished BOM quilts! For a first time program, this was a huge hit.
Quilt by Anne M. 
Quilt by Barbara E. 
Quilt by Donna S. 
Quilt by Rhonda R. 
Quilt by Cristin G. 
Quilt by Cyndi W. 
Quilt by Darlene T. 
Quilt by Dianne G. 
Quilt by Kathy S. 
Quilt by Mandy F. 
Quilt by Michele D. 
Quilt by Audrey H. 
Quilt by Kristen F. 
Quilt by Renee S. 
Quilt by Bev T. 
Quilt by Amanda M.
We think a few key factors helped in making this year’s BOM a big success.
- Keeping the blocks simple provided an easy barrier of entry into the project for any member.
- Focusing on design concepts and layout helped build discussion around Modern Quilting and encourage members to “play” and “explore.”
- Hosting a live BOM Lab each month provided members with help on tricky blocks and a resource for feedback and advice.
- Having a 2020 BOM page on the website to list block instructions, steps, and information was also a great help as we continued to navigate programs in a new strictly virtual world.
We hope to see more BOM programming on the list for next years guild agenda!