Round Robin Quilt: Round 4

This year I’m participating in my first-ever round robin. The idea is fun: start with a square or strip for the center, then pass it around a group of quilters, each adding to it (borders or blocks or whatever they want) and passing it on to the next person each month, until it makes it way around everyone in the group and comes back to you as a completed quilt top. And if your group is as talented as the ladies in my modern quilt guild, it’s sure to end up awesome!

This year my quilt guild is starting two Round Robin groups, and we kicked off the six-month challenge at our February meeting. (In case you’re interested, the guidelines that we started with are listed here in my first post.)

I blogged about my quilt’s start here, Round 2 here, and Round 3 here.

For Round 4, I worked on the quilt that was started by Emily. She started with curves, interesting negative space, and a great color palette inspired by a piece of artwork. Jane added her signature precise paper piecing, and Marcia added a mixture of stripes and circles.

I have to admit, this one really stumped me! I really wanted to add something creative to do justice to the other rounds, and I think that paralyzed me a bit. I’m not very confident with curves or paper piecing, but I have to remind myself that I can still use the skills I already have to work outside my comfort zone and create something new.

Here’s where it started!

 

I liked the idea of adding some straight lines to balance all the curves, and two of the dresses have a pattern that reminded me of a rail fence quilt pattern, so at first I went with that idea. I made a few strip sets from the colors that Emily included to make rail fence blocks, and sprinkled in a couple prints from my stash.

 

 

This is where I got stuck. I tried a couple different arrangements of the rail fence blocks, but it was feeling too chaotic. Luckily, a few other members also needed more time with this round, so we gave ourselves another month and I put all the pieces away to think on it some more.

 

The guild hosted a Friday Night Open Sew a couple weeks before the June meeting, so I brought everything out again. I really liked the use of background fabric from the other rounds and wanted to add some more negative space, so I scrapped the rail fence idea and started over. Emily had a look and helped guide me in the right direction; just what I needed!

I kept the simplest of the blocks and added a lot more white background fabric. The leftover blocks were added to the stash that passed on to the next round, so maybe they’ll turn up somewhere else in the quilt later.

 

Ta da! Even though this one was challenging, I really like how it turned out!

I always flip it around to make sure that all angles will work, and I think it’s balanced nicely for the next round.

 

 

 

…

The June guild meeting was last weekend, so I got a peek at the progress of my quilt. It is going to be so cute!! I get so excited every time I see it again.

Round 1: a 12″ wonky star with Amelia’s initial in the center.

 

Round 2 from Maria: I adore the little fussy cut details in the wonky patchwork, and the strawberry and star cornerstones are so adorable!

Round 3 from Libby: More fussy cut adorableness and a healthy dose of green!

Round 4 from Emily: I love, love, love all the the sweet details that she added! There is so much to take in: the ombre from cream to pink on the top half, to the green grass at the bottom, and the adorable paper pieced ladybugs, butterflies, and snails… so, so cute!

 

Emily showed me this photo she took in her backyard, and I have to share it! I love how her garden and quilt are merging together; I mean, how gorgeous is that?!

Now tt’s with Jayne for Round 5, and I can’t wait to see what happens next! This is turning out to be the sweetest quilt ever!!

…

While I’m here, let’s talk about the June meeting too.

June was a Charity Sew month, and we made twenty-nine drawstring pillowcases for Safe Room, a local nonprofit that helps with the foster care transition when kids are first placed in the system. When children leave their homes, they often have to gather all their belongings quickly, and they have to carry their stuff in garbage bags. The drawstring pillowcases that Emily designed can be used to carry their belongings while they are placed in the foster care system, and also as pillowcases in their new homes. It was an honor to help make something useful to provide a bit of color and comfort in a difficult situation. Twenty-nine pillowcases in a few hours; good work, ladies!

We are also starting a Paint Chip Challenge. Everyone who wanted to participate drew two paint chips out of a box; the challenge is to make a mini quilt using only these two colors! We can also add white OR black, but that’s it. I’m not usually a pink person, so we’ll see how this goes! I do love how the names of the paint colors go together: Flirty Fuschia and Kissable!

Next month is our third annual Shop Hop, so the next round of Round Robin quilts is due in August. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!