Supernova Swap Month 1

My first block for the Supernova Swap has finally arrived! I love this block so much and it has been such a big challenge to keep it a secret. I've seen some really cool ideas for sneak peek photos of these blocks so I might share a glimpse of the next block on facebook or instagram. I've been hesitant to join instagram since my phone was 4 years old and took really bad pictures. I knew that if I tried taking pictures with my camera I would first have to get my camera, then when I loaded them onto my computer I would edit them, and then upolad them to the internet. By the time I finished all of that it was no long "insta"gram. My phone finally died last week and we upgraded to smart phones! Now that I have a phone with a good camera and internet access I've joined instagram. I've even put a link in my sidebar so it's easy to find me. Here's my practice "sneak peak" shot of my block.

Of course I had to try a different angle on my partner's block too.

I don't think this post would be complete without showing our blocks together. We've decided to do a checkerboard layout so all of my blocks will have a dark grey background and hers will all have the light grey background. 

In addition to swapping our blocks we were encouraged to write a list of 25 Things You Don't Know About Me. This should be a really easy list to send to a complete strange since they don't know anything about you, but I've heard from lots of people that the 25 Things list was harder to make than the blocks. My partner's shows how very different we are. She's a long arm quilter (I'm just starting to do some free motion quilting on my machine.) She's been quilting since 1992 (I'm somewhat ashamed to admit what I was doing in 1992. Let's just say I was learning skills necessary for quilting, but hadn't hit division yet.) She has a black lab named Bailey, 3 children, and 3 grand children (I have a stuffed penguin named Matilda that my husband gave me for my birthday a few years ago. I wish we had a puppy, but our lease doesn't allow it.) She loves the beach (I can feel a sunburn just thinking about the beach. Thankfully Iowa doesn't have a lot of beaches.) 

With all of those differences we still have a lot in common. She loves modern quilts (me too! I think that's why we got matched up as partners.) She's started designing quilt patterns (me too!) She's a night owl and gets some of her best work done in the wee hours of the morning. (Okay so I'm not a night owl, but I do wake up in the wee hours of the morning. Some of my best quilting gets done before my husband gets home from work at 7a.m.) She hates to cook, but loves to bake. (I don't do much baking since it's just my husband and me, but I'm the same way. Also like her I had the good sense to marry a man who can cook.) 

I love that quilting gives a common ground that allows people of all ages to connect. I've especially observed this in my quilt guild. I'm closer in age to the children of my fellow quilters than to them (I suspect some of them may have kids older than me,) but they've accepted me as a friend. I'm hoping that in the course of this swap I'll be able to add Cheryl to that list. I can't wait to see what we come up with for next month.