Bay Quilters, a Mathews County quilting guild, took one year to fulfill a challenge, with members presenting the results at its Dec. 12 meeting at Central United Methodist Church.

President Cheryl Dale said that in the autumn of 2018, 16 guild members signed up to swap 9-patch blocks among themselves. She explained that the 9-patch is a quilt block of three rows and three squares. In this case, each finished block of nine was six inches square.

The last blocks were exchanged in October of 2019 and the finished tops were displayed in December, and no two quilts were the same. “It was an inspiring example of what the mind can do when challenged to go beyond the norm and ‘think outside the box’,” Dale said. 

All the top makers were entered into a drawing for a package of fabric, won by Alice Truscott. The year-end party also included games, a fabric swap and potluck dinner, Dale said.

The theme this year was Recycle Everything, Dale said, and to meet this...