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| Button charms: Pinterest |
In the 19th century many girls swapped buttons to make "charm strings." It was said that if a girl had 999 buttons on her string, the young man who gave her the 1,000th would be her true love. This article describes button charm strings.
Quiltmakers have their version of charm strings. This article describes several waves of charm quilt fads. In late 1998 I joined in one of those waves with fellow quilters on the Rec.Crafts.Textiles.Quilting newsgroup. I sent and received dozens of packets of 25 assorted 3" squares of quilting fabric and a signature square. Our goal was to have 2,000 different fabrics by the year 2000. Mickie, one of the RCTQers, designed "The New Millennium Quilt," a pattern that incorporated 24 fabrics in each 4" block. In the fall of 1999 I sewed, cut, trimmed, and assembled. The quilt was finished (quilted, bound, labeled) that November. (The design produced lots of cutaway triangles that I later gave away.) My design idea was to keep similar colors in each block. I didn't intend to make a watercolor quilt, but that's how it turned out.
| Angela | Tustin | CA |
| Anja | Almelo | Netherlands |
| Ann | Tuscumbia | AL |
| Barb | Grants Pass | OR |
| Barb | Willow Grove | PA |
| Beata | Svenberg | Denmark |
| Beth | Marietta | GA |
| Betty | Hillsboro | NM |
| Bev | ON | |
| Beverly | Bright, Victoria | Australia |
| Carol | Dayton | OH |
| Carolyn | Natick | MA |
| Cathy | Oshkosh | WI |
| Cheryl | Omaha | NE |
| Cheryle | Sault Ste Marie | ON |
| Christine | Stow | OH |
| Connie | Anchorage | AK |
| Cori | Bremerton | WA |
| Cynthia | CT | |
| Deane | Cary | IL |
| Debbie | Savage | MN |
| Debi | Fox River Grove | IL |
| Denise | Strongsville | OH |
| Diane | Conyngham | PA |
| Dianne | Chicago | IL |
| Donna | Steilacoom | WA |
| Donna | Escondido | CA |
| Dorothy | Powell River | BC |
| Elaine | Suffolk | VA |
| Elaine | Montgomery | AL |
| Flornce | Tucson | AZ |
| Genevieve | Natchez | MS |
| Gillian | Beaverton | OR |
| Gillie | Oxfordshire | England |
| Ginny | Barre | VT |
| Gwen | Brooklyn | NY |
| Irene | Creston | BC |
| Jane | Ashland | OH |
| Janet | Portland | OR |
| Janet | Garland | TX |
| Janice | Okanagon | WA |
| Jennifer | Greenwood | SC |
| Jerrica | Lewiston | ID |
| Judith | Fort Worth | TX |
| Judy | Tampa | FL |
| Kapi | Escondido | CA |
| Kathy | Grand Blanc | MI |
| Katie | Norfolk | NE |
| Katie | Ames | IA |
| Katrina | Seattle | WA |
| Kimberly | Chewelah | WA |
| Krysia | Tyne & Wear | England |
| Laura | Dale City | VA |
| Laurel | Belleair | FL |
| Lisa | Los Angeles | CA |
| Lisa | Bloomington | IN |
| Lisa | Olson AFB | Korea |
| Lori | Troy | MI |
| Lori | Troy | MI |
| Lu Ellen | Newport | NC |
| Maarit | Ottawa | ON |
| Margie | Canon City | CO |
| Marilyn | Tampa | FL |
| Mary | Birmingham | AL |
| Mary Kay | Port Huron | MI |
| Maureen | Ottawa | ON |
| Maureen | Medicine Hat | AB |
| Mechele | Seoul | South Korea |
| Megan | South Holland | IL |
| Michelle | Iowa City | IA |
| Mickie | Cranberry Twp | PA |
| Miriam | Cumberland | ME |
| Monique | Bilbao | Spain |
| Nadine | Warrensburg | MO |
| Nancie | Houston | TX |
| Nina Marie | Albion | PA |
| Pamela | Helsinki | Finland |
| Pixie | Tyler | TX |
| Rhoda | Moorhead | MN |
| Ro | Brea | CA |
| Robin | Baldwinsville | NY |
| Robin | Howell | MI |
| Roseann | Millersville | MD |
| Rowena | Nashville | TN |
| Sandy | Burlington | MA |
| Sharon | Lansing | MI |
| Smeggy | Little Falls | WV |
| Sue | Niles | MI |
| Susan | Phoenix | AZ |
| Susan | Indianapolis | IN |
| Sylvia | Clinton | NC |
| Theresa | Covington | WA |
| Tutu | Cape Town | South Africa |
| Urchi | Germany | |
| Vickie | Casper | WY |
| Vickie | Youngstown | OH |
| Vivien | Auckland | NZ |
| Yvonne | Carlsbad | CA |
Did you swap charm squares for the millennium? Did you ever sew them into a quilt?
Alt Dot Rec..... wow, we go way back on the interwebz, don't we? I missed this swap by a year or two. (Had to check for my own name to be sure, though)
ReplyDeleteI'm still working on mine!!!! But I am working on it right now again, so maybe this time I'll get it done!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your old finish that is totally new to me. It is fabulous with the colors shimmering along the surface of the quilt! Thank you for showing it here and telling its story. Did you quilt it with straight lines on your DSM? The set is 9 blocks by 11, but please do tell the quilt's dimensions; it looks big!
ReplyDeleteThat was just before I joined. I only recognize a couple of names but I knew most by their screen names. I utterly adore scrappy-type quilts, this one especially. Quilting has brought me some dear cyber friendships, now 15 years old, including some person-to-person meet-ups.
ReplyDeleteSeeing these names really brings back a lot of memories! I think of these ladies from time to time, and wonder what happened to everyone.
ReplyDeleteBTW,your quilt is just lovely!
Vickie, now in Cleveland!
Yes, that was fun. My squares sat in their box for 15 years, and now I'm using them to piece into other projects. I still have many yards of '2000' fabric (meant for the back) that doesn't seem to work into many places although I sewed some into a Dr Who quilt last year. I see that we were swappers all those years ago,
ReplyDeleteI started online quilting a little too late to swap y2k blocks or fabric, but it wasn't too much after that when I started. I have several sets of blocks that I still need to put together from various swaps.
ReplyDeleteGoodness this Y2K quilt is so pretty! The flow of colors across the top really is nice, and how fun to have blocks from so many contributors!
ReplyDelete