Walla Walla Valley Quilt Guild

Block of the Month

A starting place for our monthly block lotto,
plus examples and patterns with inspiration for your next project

Choose a year to see samples and locate patterns

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If you are new to the WWV Quilt Guild, or to quilt guilds in general, you may not know that many quilt guilds have a monthly activity to challenge, educate, fascinate, offer a chance to practice piecing blocks or simply to experience a new pattern for a quilt block, and yes perhaps even frustrate you as a quilter. This activity is called variously Block Lotto, Monthly Challenge, Block of the Month, and perhaps other names in guilds across the country. At the Walla Walla Quilt Guild we call it the Block of the Month and we hold a monthly Block Lotto.

Here is how it works:

Each month a pattern is distributed with instructions, and/or a sample of the block is shown at the Guild meeting. (This year there will be two patterns some months--one for the lotto and another to go with it or perhaps for a service project.) Participants have until the next monthly meeting to gather their scraps and prepare at least one 12" block. (of course that would be 12" finished, so the unfinished block should measure 12 1/2 inches.) On arriving at the Guild meeting, participants bring their block and sign in on the participation list to indicate that he/she is participating in the lotto for that evening. If a participant brings more than one block, he/she will sign in for each block they bring.

During the meeting a number is drawn. Whoever signed in on the number that is drawn wins ALL the blocks that came that evening. Your chance of winning depends on the number of participants that evening. Of course, it follows that your next challenge would be to make something with those blocks and bring it back to Guild to share with others. Depending on how many blocks you win, you could make a baby or youth quilt, a table runner, a lap throw, or a wall hanging. You MIGHT even have (or make) enough blocks to finish a bed quilt!

Only public domain patterns, or those original from members of the Guild, will be posted on our website. If you miss a meeting, you can check this website for the pattern and instructions for that month's block. However, not all patterns will be put on the web. If they are original or under current copyright, they will not be posted. However, we will attempt to show a picture of the block sample each month.