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.

Quilting for the Grands - Part 2

Posting a little while back about all the quilts I have made for Gavin gave me a kinda queasy feeling knowing that I would have to come clean about the fact that I have only made two quilts for Aidan so far. Uh oh --- need to even things up. Turns out, though, that it isn't as bad as I first thought. Gavin got his 3rd quilt from me when he was 3 1/2 years old, so I have about a month until Aidan hits that point. Whew!! Guess I'd better get busy, huh?

This is the quilt I made for Aidan in 2006 as we were awaiting his birth. I used the "Baby Nines" pattern from the April 2000 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine. They made it out of pastels for the sample quilt which graced the cover of that issue, but I like to think outside the box when it comes to my quilts. (In case you haven't noticed.)

Aidan's next quilt was from another Debbie Caffrey book, Another Can of Worms. I couldn't find any photos of him with the quilt when I first made it in 2007, so I took this photo when I saw him last week. This one is in my studio right now for repairs because it has a bleach spot on it, but that's what applique is for -- right?

Just as before, I would rather show off the grands than the quilts, but you can see full images of the quilts on my Flickr page right here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypanagos/sets/72157610375681178/

See ya later. Gotta go do some emergency applique!

Missing............And REALLY in Action!

I really did mean to come back to my blog before now, but I've barely had a minute to take a breath in the past two weeks. It started on the 23rd of last month when Adam and his family hit town for a few days to attend a wedding. (I think it's the 7th wedding Adam has been in. He's a popular guy!) They made a mini vacation of it, and when they went home they left Gavin and Aidan to spend some quality time with Gramma and Grampa. Today is the first time in 14 days I have been home alone. YAY!!!!! (Why am I already missing those guys?!?!?)

One of the things we did while they were here in town was spend a very cool day at The Magic House in Kirkwood. I just had to take a photo of the glass balloons that filled the ceiling of the entry area. Inspiration, anyone??

All three of the boys had a blast and were kept busy with the hands-on displays. Aidan liked climbing Jack's beanstalk ladder in the Story Book area.............

Gavin pretended to give a speech as the President of the U.S. in the Branches of Government display...........

and Noah climbed the giant beanstalk that spanned several stories.

Grampa treated all of us to a tasty dinner (and dessert!) at Fitz's - a real St. Louis Classic. I had to eat fast to get my share of the banana split Gavin and I shared!

After a few good nights' sleep and a nap or two, I'll get back to blogging about quilts. BBFN......

Quilting for the Grands

There was a time when I decided that I would make a quilt for each of my dozen or so grandchildren. Doesn't that sound like a good idea? Well, since my two sons and daughters-in-law are refusing to cooperate with this plan (the dozen or so grandchildren part) I will probably end up making a dozen or so quilts for each of my (so far) three grandchildren. Whatever works, right?? Gavin is our first grandson, born in 2000, and he has collected five quilts so far.

Here he is when he was just about 6 or 7 weeks old snuggled up with the simple friendship stars quilt I made in preparation for his birth. What a cutie!
The second quilt I made for him was for his 2nd birthday in 2002. It's called "Plaid Quilt" from Debbie Caffrey's book"Quilting Seasons." It didn't just keep him warm it was also a toy!

The next two were tied comforters made from cheater cloths -- oops, I mean printed panels -- Bob the Builder in 2003 ................

................ and Spider-Man in 2004.

In 2006 it was time for a twin-sized quilt. His daddy (the engineer and quantum physics guy ) asked me to make a "Math Quilt." Looking back I think he was teasing, but since there are so many great fabrics out there I went for it and ended up making a reversible Math AND Science Quilt! The focus fabric on the front has very cool fabric that reminded me of illustrations in science books when I was in junior high. The red fabric in the four-patches has elementary math problems on it. On the back is a really fun fabric with Scientist Cats in their Laboratory.

The pics above don't show off the quilts as well as they show off Gavin, but a Gramma does have her priorities! You can see better photos of the quilts in my Flickr album if you'd like -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandypanagos/sets/

Vacation!!

Ahhh, summer vacation. This is the second year I have taken our grandson, Gavin, to Seattle to visit his Aunt Leah and Uncle Aaron. (He adores his Aunt!) I drove to his home in AL to pick him up and we headed out on our adventure.

Two flights and 13 hours later we were in the gorgeous Northwest. Gavin is a great traveler but Gramma is not! I was totally exhausted by the time we got there so the first day Aaron, Leah and Gavin wore themselves out at Wild Waves Theme Park. I slept off and on all day long - just the kind of first day of vacation I needed!

Since Gavin had "always wanted" a latte we indulged (just a half-shot of decaf espresso and using whole milk) and he's hooked. Every morning Aunt Leah took him for coffee. One of those mornings they ended up at the beach to enjoy their drinks and the beautiful atmosphere. We experienced the most perfect weather during our entire stay. It was great.

A few days later my hubby, Phil joined us for a long holiday weekend. We managed to fit a lot of very cool things into a short time actually -- Mike's Chili Parlor in Ballard, Cupcake Royale, Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, and Mt. Rainier. WOW!!

Our son, Aaron and his lovely bride (of 6 years) Leah enjoyed the outting with us, including a snowball fight in July which just made Gavin's day.

Gavin with Gramma (that would be me) and Grampa on Mt. Rainier.

We had dinner one evening at Blue C Sushi in Seattle, a really fun concept in restaurants. Individual dishes of different kinds of sushi make their way around the inside of the room on a conveyer belt, and diners who are seated in booths all around the perimiter, select items as they are passing by. Each plate is color coded to match the posted prices and they are small enough portions to be able to try a real variety of foods. Gavin was brave enough to try something, but ended up with the Japanese equivalent of chicken strips. That's okay -- he braved it for Aunt Leah! Oh yah -- he tried the cream puffs, too!!

Even though I had planned a quilty day with an on-line friend it didn't work out due to a post travelling day migraine, but I'll fit it in for sure the next time I'm up that way. (Which, I hope, is real soon!)

The Rest of the Retreat Story......

Inside of me is a frustrated photographer struggling to get out. Well, she actually does get out every once in a while. Here's a sample from when that happens. At Retreat I noticed my beautiful sewing basket (thanks, again, Aaron and Leah!) and all my sewing supplies and what a colorful arrangement they made, so I couldn't help but snap a photo. Cute, huh??

Of course, you can't just quilt at a quilting retreat, you have to find another hobby to which you can become addicted. Faye has been showing off some of her beautiful knitting on her blog at http://mimispassions.blogspot.com/ so I finally caved and asked her for a refresher course. I had tried knitting a long time ago and never really stuck with it, but she is a great teacher (and Eve helped, too!) so I may just do something with it one of these days. Look what I've done so far! I know, impressive isn't it?!?

I wanted to show you something very cool that my friend Gail showed us at Retreat. She had taken her daughter's bridal gown (at her request, of course) and made a christening gown for her new grandbaby. Isn't it gorgeous? They have the rest of the dress along with the train set aside for a first communion dress. What a sweet tradition!

This is my good friend, Jan. She is a batiks lover like nobody else I know! She just got some new bedroom furniture and everyone knows that means she must have a new quilt. She wasn't sure she would like it until she got quite a few blocks made. It's really pretty, though, and will be just the perfect thing for the new bedroom.

My friend, Rebecca was asked to make a sample quilt for the new book by Jan Krentz, Quick Star Quilts and Beyond. She brought it along for Show and Tell and I was really impressed. She is an excellent quilter and this little quilt is really something. I may need to get the book just so I can have Rebecca autograph it for me!

Well, that about does it for Retreat. About time, I would say! I just spent 10 days travelling with my grandson to see my son and daughter-in-law in Seattle, so next time I'll write a little bit about my family. I like them waaay more than quilting!