Happy Housewarming!

I love it when I get to finish a UFO and end up with a lovely gift for someone special at the same time.  This quilt was started several years ago when my friend Barb was in charge of the Lotto Blocks for our quilt guild.  She came up with this simple batik 6" block, so of course I was going to make a whole quilt from it.  I made 25 blocks, stitched them together and then it sat in a drawer until two months ago when I decided it had been a UFO long enough.  (You have heard this song before, haven't you!? LOL)

I did not want to make gazillions of the same block so I thought it would be fun to make this a sort of "One Woman Round Robin" instead.  One border at a time and it would be a real quilt!

I found a great eggplant batik at my favorite online source, Batiks Plus.  I used six different gold and purple batiks cut into 2 1/2" squares and had my first border done.

It was looking a little bland to me, so the next round was a colorful piano keys border.  No, I did not repeat a fabric.  Yes, I do have a great stash!

                                                                                                        I wanted to add a plane border next with appliquéd flowers and vines.  Everybody knows you need some curves to balance all those straight lines.  Well, almost everyone.  Hubby said it needed squares instead and sketched it out for me.  Huh.  Looks great!  Whatta ya know about that!?

I appliquéd the squares on and then embroidered around them and finished it off with another eggplant border.   I mailed the quilt to my nephew Tim and his wife Catherine in celebration of them buying their first home.  I think it will make a great snuggle quilt for them to use for many years to come.

So, Congratulations to Tim and Cat.  And Happy Housewarming!!!

Round Robin Found Its Way Home

A while back I blogged about a Round Robin group I had joined.  I had great visions of something really abstract when I sketched the semi-paisley shapes, but they ended up looking like drumsticks.  Was I ever worried about what the gals in the Round Robin would do with that!!  

Well, they behaved, although they said they were really tempted to add chickens, etc. to their borders.  Am I ever glad they restrained themselves.   This is what it looked like when I got it in the mail a few days ago.

The only thing I really hated about it was that goofy looking center block!  I had to fix it!   I borrowed some of the shapes from the last border and used them to add some appliqué to the center. 

All I can say is, "Wow!"  

Thank you SO much, Shirley, Jac and Marcia for making my Round Robin so beautiful.   I love it!  This is one project that will definitely not turn into a UFO.

A New Round Robin

I'm trying to be brave.  I really am.  I have had some very interesting experiences with Round Robins and had to do some major re-working on some of them.  It goes with the territory.  When you sign up to be involved in any kind of block swap or round robin you are taking a risk because some of the people involved are inexperienced quilters, but it really is a lot of fun. 

I wanted to do something really different for this one and maybe a little abstract for my center block.  My first choice of fabrics did not work well at all. 


I didn't realize the print was so directional until I had it put together and took a photo of it.  Yuck!

My second attempt was much better.  

I used a plastic template to draw a pattern........

.......and cut some shapes to applique onto my center block.

Looking good, right??  Love the fabrics, love the shapes, love the colors!  However, once I got the pieces stitched down and took a picture of it I realized that they look kind of like chicken drumsticks.  Eeeek!

I will probably add some more applique and embroidery to it once the completed top comes back to me.  The big risk with this one is this -- some of the gals in this group have a real interesting sense of humor so no telling what it will look like after several rounds are added.  It may end up with chickens and barns and all kinds of strange things.  It doesn't matter, though.  I know that whatever they do to it, I will love, love, love it!!!

About Round Robins

Admittedly, when you agree to participate in a Round Robin you are taking your chances. You never know what you may end up with. Some of the quilters involved with your quilt may be real "newbies," but there are some very skilled people taking part in Round Robins, too. I had heard the horror stories so I was prepared. And, I am happy to say, the first time I took part in a Round Robin I was very pleasantly surprised.

There are so many different ways to organize this kind of "swap." This time, we were to each purchase three different fabrics and put them in a box which was to be passed around for almost a year and come back to us with our quilt blocks in it. Each quilter was allowed to add one additional fabric if she wanted to, and I have to say that everyone who worked on mine did a beautiful job. It's really a great quilt.

Several years later I decided to try it again. This time I made just this center block........

.........and rows were added according to specific guidelines . I was delighted with the results. I would never have thought to do what some of these quilters did. It hangs in our guest room above a quilt made from the center block fabrics. I really do love this quilt.

So........... I decided to go ahead and try the whole Round Robin thing one more time. But this time, I kept putting off making that center block and I couldn't decide what to do, and I moaned and groaned and complained about it until the day before I had to mail it. Too late -- I threw something together so I could make the mailing deadline and I just hated that block. (I have to say, my heart still hasn't changed all that much towards that center block!) I knew that one of the rounds of this Round Robin called for appliqueing "anywhere" on the quilt, so I was confident that all of that horrible white space around my goofy looking trees would at least come back with some great applique on it. (Right??)

((((sigh..............))))

I would never, for anything in the world, hurt any of these gals' feelings. But, when this quilt came back, well, I just wasn't crazy about it. I really can't blame any one but myself. I mean - I didn't exactly offer up any great inspiration with that center block, did I?

This quilt has been sitting in my UFO pile for a long time. I finally decided to do something with it and boy, have I worked! I removed the hodge-podge of appliqued snowflakes. (That was fun. They were fused on and then zig-zagged around.) And then I reworked the ribbon border into a flying geese border. (Which meant taking the entire thing apart and re-sewing it.) I added the baby rick rack around the trees and houses so they would stand out better. And I added a LOT of applique and embroidery to that sad center block. Whew! It's a lot more work than I should have spent on it, but ya know......it's not too bad! I actually like it.

I have nothing against Round Robins. Honest! They can be a lot of fun. I just have so many other quilts floating around in my head waiting to be made, that I think I will stick with one-woman quilts for a while.