Round Robin #1

Here is the first round of the Paducah Round Robin 2013 I am doing with 2 quilting friends.

The center applique' block was done by Ellen, who loves to applique', and I added this first set of pieced borders.  It is currently 24" square.  It now goes on to the 3rd friend who can do what she wishes to it. 

Lesson learned:  be sure to check the measurements AND quilt block carefully before proceeding.  I did all the math figuring to trim the applique' block to 18.5".  I actually did carefully trim the block to 18.5".  Then I made all the borders.  As I went to add the first burgundy inner border I discovered there was still .5" of selvedge showing on the block.  Oh, my, back to the drawing board! 

SO, I changed the block to 17" finished, trimmed it carefully again, to 17.5", recut the inner borders which now had to be wider, and put the smaller burgundy border on the outside.  It worked out fine and Sharon, the next person, can make units that finish at 2", 3", or 4" or add another floater border if she needs to. 

While working on this I decided what my own center block will be:  a Feathered Star!  Surprise!  I'm still in my "feathered star" phase, apparently.  And I need a sample for a class I am teaching in October so it's the perfect time to get the pieces cut and use my block for class demo. 

This kind of project is how the 3 of us celebrate/remember our road trips--we went to Paducah this spring and bought our fabrics on that trip.  Each of us bought 2 fat quarters for each other once we saw the colors/fabrics each wanted to use.  There are no rules beyond that--do what you want when it comes to you.  And we do have to use the fabrics that were purchased but can add to those if necessary.  I added one green this round.  Don't know if I'll get this one back for another go--we don't usually get them back.  We're pretty fluid about the rules...

Here is one of our earlier Round Robins--mine. 

I bought 3 different fabrics on a cruise/tour of Alaska in 2004 and gave 2 of them to these friends as a group "challenge".  I was thrilled with how it looked when I got it back and decided it needed to be larger so I added the large applique' border and put lots of hand quilting into it.  It took seven years to complete but it was worth it!  It won Best of Show at our guild show in 2011 and has been selected to appear in a new book, 500 Traditional Quilts, due out in 2014.  You never now what a little challenge might bring!

 

Be sure to check out Judy L's Blog, Design Wall Monday to see what others are doing.

 

Let's quilt!

 

Barbara