Tag Archives: stay at home round robin

Round Robin Finish

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Today’s finish leaves me slightly astounded. If you have been reading my posts for any length of time, you know I am not one for finishing a QAL in a timely fashion. This is clearly evidenced by the quilt top I made for the Mosaic Mystery QAL back in 2019 which still awaits completion. The quilt top is so pretty too! The poor thing deserves to be finished. Well, this year I have been trying to change all of this. I decided to start finishing up the projects that have languished. Additionally, I have been working really diligently to use up the fabric on hand (of which there is a large supply).

My fabric stack for the Morewood Mystery Quilt

Further illustrating my point is the stack of fabric I had selected for the next QAL I was going to join. This photo was taken in August 2020. I went so far as to cut most of the pieces and stitch up a large number of half square triangles before I realized I just wasn’t into it. Not sure what happened but I didn’t like where it was headed. Then the pieces sat in a project bag until SAHRR 2023 began. Not knowing exactly how this round robin would work out, I promised myself to use as many of these cut up pieces as possible. It worked out well and I was able to utilize every HST I had made! Of the pieces I had cut for the Morewood Mystery, remaining are a large stack of six inch squares cut in the orange and green batik and an even larger stack of 2″ x 6″ rectangles of the polka dot fabric. These three together should work in some design for another quilt so they are bundled together for future use. Overall, I am super pleased with how many bits were used for the round robin.

Here is a shot of the entire quilt. It is quite joyful to me. This quilt is so colorful and a maybe a bit on the crazy side with the variety of pieces and types of blocks included in it.

There are loads of different quilting motifs used on the quilt. My only plan was to treat each border or section uniquely. I haven’t done lots of free motion quilting lately. In an effort to finish some projects, I have relied on quicker straight line quilting.

To ensure a reasonable level of success, I have been practicing a bit. Also, I have been doodling on a large whiteboard I keep in the sewing room for this. (Do you have one? It is a great way to practice the designs before actually sewing. Doodle, erase and doodle some more!) Above you can see some daisies, stippling and my interpretation of ribbon or ribbon candy on the right.

My favorite motif I used is a flower which I quilted on the center of each square in a square block. Those were super fun and once I got going they were not difficult at all. I did a fair amount of stitching in the ditch as well. Not every bit of the quilt has been quilted down which leaves it nice and soft.

For the backing I used a width of this red print leftover from my shop. I have quite a bit of this – maybe another five yards. It is likely you’ll see this on the back of a few more quilts. Because the quilt ended up being 48″ wide, I had to add a narrow stripe of white to each side. I also have about three more yards of the polka dot fabric (leftover from the shop) and used some of it to bind the quilt.

I did not have a quilt holder available because Ray has been down with a virus all week. Instead, I used the front porch here.

This shot is in a wooded area in our front yard. I like taking outdoor shots when it is a bit overcast. The colors are so accurate here.

This round robin was so much fun and way out of my norm. The fact that I didn’t know what was coming next and no sizes were dictated to me was a stretch. Working this way taught me a lot. While I don’t want to pick apart my finished quilt and decide what I don’t like about it, there are a few takeaways that I hope to remember next time. Learning from each project is a good thing though. Isn’t that how we continue to make progress?

Thank you Gail for dreaming up this event back during the days of lockdown and loneliness. I am super happy I joined in this year and am already crossing my fingers you will host it again next year! (Please???)

Linking up with the final link party (tomorrow) over at Quilting Gail’s as well as Oh Scrap!. I hope you will check out the other SAHRR finishes. It is incredible to see the variety of interpretations of this event. Really amazing.

There is still plenty of time to purchase your ticket to the Color Mixer event coming up on March 30th! If you want to read more about this virtual class, the details are here.

Stay At Home Round Robin

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The third annual Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR) is starting this week and I am joining in. I have never done any sort of round robin but I am looking forward to playing along with Gail (Quilting Gail) and the other bloggers that are presenting during this event. Several years ago, Gail decided to do a riff on the traditional round robin (where a quilter makes a center block, it is passed along to the next quilter who adds a border of their choice and passes it to the next quilter who does the same). Instead, Gail has lined up five other quilters who have each designed a border for us to use as we see fit. It is very flexible in that a person might choose to use part of the border, to change it a bit or skip it altogether if it doesn’t work for them.

This is my center block. I had a stack of these HST’s and made this star block with them. They were from a quilt I started a couple of years ago and decided I didn’t like where it was headed. In the project bag, I have loads of cut pieces. Several colors of the batik (red, orange, blue, green and purple) and tons of the polka dot fabric cut into various size rectangles and strips. I am hoping to repurpose many of the pieces in this project. If I need to tame it down a bit I may add some solids to the mix. The star block measures eight inches square.

This feels like a mystery quilt since I don’t know what is coming next week. Because I don’t know the plans for the five rounds we will be offered, I have no plan for the size of this project. Wall hanging? Baby quilt? Lap quilt? Who knows! Not being one who is known for spontaneity, this is a reach for me. But this is a way to use lots of pieces that have been sitting patiently waiting to be put into a quilt!

If you want to join in, below is the list of bloggers who will be posting for one round each. If you click through, you’ll be able to see their starting block. For more information on the event itself, click here.

For those who are participating, there is a link up to share your center block. Click here to find that link. I am excited for the next set of instructions which will be provided in a week by Roseanne and Sue. Join in and sew with this group. It is going to be a lot of fun!