Round Robin 5

I’m on the next to last round and getting really excited about the reveal at my Tiki House.  This quilt has a Zentangle as the center.  If you haven’t checked out the Zentangle craze, please click on the link.  It’s a really an impressive creative outlet.  Black and white center and a box of crayons for the fabrics.  All batiks, in every color under the sun.  The quilt has morphed into an extra large size!  Good thing it’s Jane’s because she can handle the quilting.  My challenge is to come up with a small border.

I also was under the gun time wise.  So I thought simple 4 patches would be best.  I cut about 10 inch strips from about 12 fabrics at a time.  Then I sewed strips and cut.  Then sewed together in 4 patches, trying to not have same fabrics close to each other.

Once I had the 4 patches done for a side, I sewed them together, then attached to the quilt top.  I went through this process 4 times.  Let me tell you, it was a lot of 4 patches.

Finished with time to spare!

Round Robin 4

I’ve completed the 4th round of the round robin.  Yea!  This time there was no need to figure a spacer border, the top I got was 48″ x 48″.  So all I needed to do was add 6 1/2″ blocks all the way around.  The suggestion from my bee members were some kind of pieced border.  I chose the square in a square block.  I did half with dark centers and half with light centers.  I really like how it turned out.  Sorry I did not take any pictures in the production.  I was in a hurry to get it done by bee meeting.

Square in a Square

I really like it!  I’m surprised, because my love is colorful quilts, but I think this appeals to the clean, organized me that shows up every now and then:)

What kind of colors do you like in your quilts?  Stay tuned for Round 5.

Thanks for stopping by, God bless you!

Mary

Round Robin Round 3

So I did two rounds in my 1st post.  My goal is to write a post with each round.  Below is a pic of the top I received from my pass off buddy, Debbie.  Aren’t her fans awesome?!

So the tip from bee members…needs curves…WHAT, the fans aren’t curvy enough?  At first, I wanted to do a twisted ribbon, but that proved to be way too much work for me.  So I came up with this curvy 4 patch.

Take 2 squares from 2 different fabrics and stack Right sides up. Then with rotary cutter start at least 1/2″ from edge and cut a gentle curve up towards the right side at least 1/2″ in from right side.  Put top fabric of one cut on bottom of stack.

Squares right sides up

Now you will stitch the two fabrics together.  Just line up the edge and then slowly stitch a 1/4″ seam.  Stop and pivot the fabric as needed to keep the 1/4″ seam.

1st curve a two patch

Then you will stack these pink against brown.  Do one more gentle curve cut.  Sew together and you have a curvy 4 patch!

Curvy 4 Patch

Pretty cute, eh?  I learned this technique in a quilt guild class I took a few years ago.

So now, it’s time to play.

Fabric Choices

Beautiful colors, cut the squares, cut the curves and sew into borders and this is what I came up with!

Round Robin 3

Do you think it has enough curves?  Just wait till you see the finish!

God Bless you

Mary

Round Robin 1 and 2

The bee I’m in is doing a round robin.  For those who don’t know, start with a center medallion.  Can be anything from an appliqué to  printed pattern, to a pieced block or blocks.  Our group split into 7 and 6.  You set up a circle so that you always pass to the same person and you get your next top from the same person. That’s confusing. That’s 2 people…One to pass to and one to get from.  But they are the same each time.  Each person adds a border. Then you pass to your person and get the quilt from your other person.  This sounds more confusing than it is.  Imagine a game of hot potato.  You are in a circle with 5 to 6 other people.  You pass the hot potato to the person on your left and you get the hot potato from the person on your right.  Each pass the top gets a new border.  In my bee, we do not get to see our own top.  It will be “unveiled” after we have made the complete circle.

Because of that this series of posts will be done after we have finished the round robin.  But I am writing in the present, because I am writing this post at the time I am doing the borders.

We’ve done two rounds and are on the 3rd.  My first round I did simple 2 1/2″ squares around the top.  It came out really nice.

Scrappy 2″ squares

The next one was more of a challenge.  I learned a new technique.  The LeMoyne Star, an 8 pointed star.  Theresa, a good friend showed me the technique at her house one afternoon.  I did a test block, went home and did some more.  I discovered a quilt that I want to do for our Canal House on Tiki Island.

So I’m not sure how this will look on the blog.  The challenge in this block is to get the center to line up AND leave a quarter inch at the points so they don’t get lost when sewing block to block.

So these are the 12″ lone stars.

For the round robin quilt, I needed a smaller block.  6″. so I did some practicing…

Pretty cool, eh?  So Look what I did! 🙂

I ended up with 14 and alternated with a Rail Fence.  Easy Peasy, 4 strips.

Tah Dah!

I must say, I am pleased as punch with this top.  There were a few issues that I need to work out.  The biggest being, leaving a quarter inch for the points.  But what a fun block. I used Marti Michell templates, Set E.