"From Aunt Pitty Pat's Porch..." will be a recurring column on theQuilterCommunity.com. Aunt Pitty Pat is a great character from Gone With The Wind, and the author was given this name by her group of friends who exchanged blocks. We are pleased that she has decided to lend her voice for the site! Check back for the next installment and more of Aunt Pitty Pat's views on Block Exchanges....

Welcome! Welcome! Won't you sit down and join me in a cup of fresh mint tea? Such a wonderful day for a visit. Isn't this new site for us quilters exciting? I have been trying to get some hand work done, but I am so excited about The QuilterCommunity.com, I am just beside myself! All this computer google de de is a mystery to me, but I know quilting! Oh, how I do love quilting! Anything that supports the art and its practitioners, anything that helps preserve and continue our quilting heritage gets your Aunt Pitty Pat's full support! And what better tool to use to communicate amongst ourselves and with which to share our knowledge and questions than the wondrous computer?! As I have said, it is a puzzlement to me, but Dori Hawks and her staff assure me that we can do all sorts of magical things together. Why, they tell me that we can converse with one another, you and I, with you in the comfort of your sewing room and I here on my own porch! Can you imagine? Won't it be fun?!

What will we talk about? Why, anything having to do with quilting, my dears. Yes, I have been quilting for many years and have taught quite a few ladies, and a gentleman or two, how to properly ply a needle. It both humbles and thrills me to think I may now have a forum through which I can share with those of you who pause here at my door, what I have learned over the years, and to share that forum with others who can share what they know. You know, knowledge and experience are useless things unless they are shared!

Of course, we will talk about new things as well. There are so many new things available today to help us be better quilters, we really must keep ourselves informed and up to date.

Well, in all humility, yes, there may be a question or two that I cannot answer fully, but do not worry! Your Aunt Pitty Pat has many, many quilting friends upon whom she can call for assistance. One just never knows who might be visiting! But we shall just plan on talking about everything!

What am I working on? Why, some blocks to exchange with some of my lady friends. You see, I have several groups of quilting friends with whom I exchange blocks on a regular basis. This Album Cross is for an exchange between friends in Virginia and Texas. We call ourselves Aunt Pitty Pat's Ladies. (Modesty insists that I point out that the name was not my idea, but I am nonetheless truly honored by it.)

Yes, it is rewarding and fun to exchange blocks, but it can be dangerous and disappointing if not done properly. The stories I could tell! Why, just the other evening, I was visiting with Miss Linda W., and she showed me some of the saddest, most pitiful excuses for quilt blocks I have ever laid eyes on! She told me -- well, we can get into all that later. Suffice it to say there are ways of doing things and there are other ways, and then there is Aunt Pitty Pat's way! Shall we make that our first topic? Just what is a Block Exchange, its Delights and Dangers? Followed, of course, by Aunt Pitty Pat's Do's and Do Not's for Success! Excellent! So it shall be!

Well, until then, my dears, do your best work,
and I shall remain, as always,
your Aunt Pitty Pat.