Friendship Basket Quilt

Here are photos of a quilt that is very special to me. The basket blocks were made for me by many of my quilting friends in 1981. Our quilt guild decided to start a monthly friendship block drawing and I won on the fourth month. All that was required for us was to make a block every month for whoever's name was chosen-they picked the pattern-and for each block we made we got a ticket into the drawing. The winner could supply fabric or request certain colors or styles. For mine I asked all my friends to pick whatever fabric they wanted as I wanted it to be scrappy. And ask then for an extra strip of fabric which I used in the border. I really love this quilt for a number of reasons. The fabrics themselves are over 25 years old which is a nice piece of history. How the fabrics have evolved since then. I live in a town with a large state university and many large companies so people come and go all the time. So many of those friends I made moved away and sadly a number of them have passed away over the years. I know who made each block and I've been meaning to make a label but just keep putting it off. I better get going and do it. Things change with time but not this. I'll always have the memories of the fun times I had with everyone when I was just starting out at quilting. The friendship block drawing has continued and I have won 3 more times over the years. But this quilt just means the most to me.