You have accompanied me on the journey through the Old Block sampler here on the BERNINA blog for a whole year, so a big thank you to you all! I would never have thought that this quilt-along would generate such a big response; certainly not that we would have participants from all over the world. I love the beautiful quilt tops you have created based on my block and layout suggestions. Some people have even shared finished quilts.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you for taking part!

Yesterday, BERNINA selected the winner of the Old Block Quilt-Along. I will announce this below in the post. First, however, I would like to show you my sampler.

My own Old Block sampler

For me, it always feels like a special reward when I look at my own quilt and think of the work that went into it. And I don’t mean the work for this quilt-along, but the sewing itself. And you should always remember that too! Be proud of what you have created over the last year. Don’t look at any things you don’t like about it, but at the whole quilt – whether you have sewn all the blocks or just 12. What counts is the result!

I had great fun sewing my own blocks and then thinking about how to assemble them all together. My blocks were spread out on my floor for over a week. I kept going back to it and moving the blocks around. I might still be rearranging them now if I hadn’t been under time pressure to finish it…

I didn’t have the time to quilt it myself, so I put it in the safe hands of Anke Pertermann, who quilted it for me with a beautiful floral pantograph design.

If you want to quilt your quilt yourself and are interested in using the “quilt-as-you-go” method, you can look forward to the post by Dorthe Niemann with instructions on this topic here on the blog in the coming days! She has taken part in the Old Block Quilt-Along and shows you how to quilt the blocks individually and how to assemble them into a quilt at the end.

As you can see, I have chosen a fabric for the back in a matching color, but that is quite unusual. I like it when the back has the wow factor. On the quilt background, you can see again how attractive the quilted pantograph design looks on the fabric.

And since I am already talking about the background:

My hard-working helpers in the background

In order to put together this quilt-along, I had to plan and sew all the blocks well in advance before I could present them to you as instructions. To ensure that everything was correct, Jule März helped me by proofreading the texts and Maria Dlugosch, Silke Jung and Regina Klaus test-sewed the blocks! I could not have done it without their fantastic support. I would therefore also like to express my heartfelt thanks to these helpful angels!

But I don’t want to keep you in suspense any longer:

And the winner is …

Dear participants of the Old Block Quilt-Along, you are all winners! You have learned, you have supported each other and you have worked hard to make beautiful creations. Many of you have shared pictures of your quilt tops in the Community section of the BERNINA blog, as well as on Instagram or Facebook. These pictures and the fantastic team spirit in the Old Block community have been a real gift for me. Sharing your passion with such great people is something special.

You can all be proud of your results! I hope your Old Block sampler will find a worthy place in your home or that of the loved one you gift it to. 

As you know, a phenomenal main prize was advertised – a BERNINA 570 QE. In fact, there were actually two machines available to win – one has been raffled among the readers of the German blog and one among the readers of the English blog.

BERNINA 570 QE (NEW)

Handle big quilts with ease ✓ Rotate, turn & do appliqués easily ✓ Enjoy superb fabric feed ✓ Automatic features save time ✓ Patchwork foot included ✓

Learn more

• lameri, showing the following sampler in the community section of the blog:

Lameri writes about this:

A year-long project is a great challenge, for me as a beginner. But, a year has almost passed and here I am with my project completed. I have made mistakes, I’ve learnt a lot, I was thrilled by the results. Thank you Andrea and Bernina for the opportunity. Here follow same pictures

Take a look: Lameri Sampler.

Congratulations to the winner! It was worth sticking with it. BERNINA will inform you of the next steps by email – or has already done so. We hope you enjoy your new machine. If you cannot find an email from BERNINA in your inbox, please be sure to check your spam folder or let us know directly here by commenting on this post. BERNINA will then find a way to contact you! 

Keep sharing your creations for the Old Block sampler!

I hope that you will keep sharing your blocks, your quilt tops or even your finished quilts here on the BERNINA blog in the Community section, on Instagram or on Facebook. Don’t forget to add the hashtag #BERNINAOldBlockSampler to your picture on social media so it’s easy to find your work quickly with one click!

I hope you have lots more fun creating and wish you all the best,
Andrea