Our quilting guild is having a block exchange. Each month, one person presents the parameters for their quilt blocks.  Some people give just the dimensions, some request anything made out of batiks, some give a pattern, some fabric and then ask you to add some of your own.  All 11 people in your group go and during the month make the designated block for the person.  Then the next month, the people in that group bring back their finished blocks for her, and another person presents.  It goes on and on for 12 months, so you have 11 blocks made by others and your own to make 12.  And you  have made 11 blocks for others.  It is a great project as long as you don't let it overwhelm you.  

The first person in my group asked us to create  a block that represents your house, your dream house, your view out of your window (the real one or the imagined one!), your yacht, or your Fifth Wheeler.  I chose to do a modified version of my real house.  This is the cleaned up house I would like.  It's tidy and the flowers are all growing in the right places and not chewed to the ground by the deer.   We live in a log house in the forest with deer, raccoons, foxes and eagles as our neighbors.  We built the log house structure ourselves when we were young and foolish.   Now we're old and more desirous of some of the luxuries that other construction might allow.  Oh well!  This is my rendition of our house as viewed from the south side.  The left hand window on the second floor is a bedroom, and we have these lovely diamond paned windows in all the bedrooms.   So far the quilt block is totally done with fusibles and no stitching.... can't decide if I want to get into that..... she said it would just be a wall hanging, so it wouldn't need to be laundered.  I might do some beading and some machine stitching on it yet.... don't have to turn it back until the 5th of November, so can sit with it for a while and see how it feels!