Mom's Round Robin Quilt

Round 1

I have the honor of participating in making a Round Robbin Quilt. I've not had the chance before so this project is extremely exciting for me.

This was the block I was given. I felt that it was country-ish, fragile, warm and cozy. It "talked" to me in a variety of next round designs. After studying out this block with all the possible ideas running through my head, I then rushed to draw it out on paper before starting my round.

Round 2

This round became a family project. When I saw the block, the first thing I saw was that it needed some new colors introduced. The block was screaming at me to find a blue with flowers in it. I took the block to a fabric store and literally threw it on the bolts of fabric there. I picked out this blue material with white flowers, Chris picked out the pink and green, Alex said that it needed to have white in it and Sammy said that it should have "diamond" patterns around it. So indeed, my family and I all had a part in putting our selections into it. The picture makes it a bit darker as shown here, but in "real-life" the colors are not so bold.

I sent it off and now anxiously await the return. I wonder what it will look like....

Round 3

This round used all the fabrics thus far introduced in this quilt and with it made the next round. Having the stripes pointing inwards, really draws the eyes to see the center block. It still looks cozy and warm and just perfect on a Sunday morning, in bed in a sunny room reading the Sunday paper.

I wonder what this quilt will tell me to do with it.....

Round 4

Well I did it. Here is round 4 and I really like this round. This round is made with Bear Paw's done in brown, purple, black and blue. The bear paws do not have a stripe between them because when I first drew this pattern out, I didn't put a space in it. This round was going to be done one of two ways... This way or the other was going to be less bear paw's and more of a solid block between them. Either way was nice, but Chris really like the idea of having the bear paws go all around the quilt. Sammy decided that the parts of the blocks between each of the blue squares looked like the tops of bats. Alex just thought it was nice and when's dinner.... These blocks were really easy to make and once started, it was easier to make up an assembly line to get them all done. Pretty neat huh?

Round 5

This round was truly inspired. The crafter told me that when this round was done, it looked like the bejeweled game. This crafter has also said that this round was a personal challenge. It was a design not done before by her and after completing it felt really proud of herself. This round is dedicated as Easter. This design is called bow ties. After looking at different bow tie patterns, the crafter found that the other patterns were not located as such. This round is absolutely gorgeous!!!!! My challenge for the next round will be difficult indeed. The quilt top is being hung in front of a window and with the light coming from behind resembles a stain glass window. 

It has been said that this quilt and my Round Robin Quilt look to be very complicated. What's funny is that I've found when working on the individual pieces then applying them to the quilt itself, the individual pieces are very easy and when applied make it seem difficult. I'm taking the observation as a high compliment and I hope the other crafter does as well.

Round 6

This round six pattern is called Shaded Trail. The original color selection I saw was a dark maroon and navy with white. I knew that I didn't want to use those colors. So after selecting this pattern, I was outside and had an inspiration. The sky had little to no clouds in it, the sun was out and making the air turn a yellowish gold. Then the grass was the new spring color green. I fell in love with the colors and couldn't wait to draw out these color selections using this pattern. Each block is made up with 32 half blocks that are 2 1/2" and 4 white 2 1/2" squares. When sewed all together it makes 1 - 12" block. If I counted correctly there are 42 little seams to one large 12"block. Total little block size is 36 little blocks to make one large block. The size of this quilt is now that of a King size quilt. This was supposed to be last month, but as you can tell, it took a lot of work. This pattern is so easy, but with all the little squares.....very putzy. I was totally amazed at how when sewed together, all the points matched up perfectly. Its the most adventurous design I've put together yet.

I think its pretty amazing!!!  

Now there is only one more round to go. Its just going to be a simple "frame" around the outside, then the back will be applied.