Tag Archives: round robin

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I have fond memories of participating in a guild round robin with SCVQA back in 2019, so it was an easy decision to opt in for this year's round robin with Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild. There are 10 of us participating, rotating the project each month. I created my starting unit in February and passed it off to the next quilter this past weekend.

Since I'd used my favorite palette of lime, teal, and navy in my previous round robin I wanted something different, and I landed on vibrant, joyful colors. Due in part to a print that I'll use on the back (and I am not showing while the quilt is in process) I selected a variety of pinks, oranges, and yellows. The majority of my print fabric stash are blenders, fabrics that read as a single color, like you see here. I tried to have a ranch of values and hues within each set of fabric.

My initial plan was to piece strips of my fabrics. I drew this small sketch. Here I have four half square triangle units in the center, bordered by a small strip of white, then surrounded by my colorful strip sets. I liked the idea of smooth organic curves and thought I might trim the outer edges and add another round of solid white.

I didn't have a specific size in mind as I started piecing. True to form I chain pieced so I could be building multiple units at once. I found this process very meditative.

In the interest of time I reworked my plan a bit, deciding to sub in a single square of fabric in the center. I thought maybe I'd stop here. I really liked the piecing to this point.

But I couldn't stop thinking about my original intention for some improv curves. Though after spending the time to do all the piecing, I didn't really want to chop some of it off. These strip sets were only 3 inches wide, so it didn't leave much room for cutting improv curves on the outer edge. I reimagined my plan for curves and created them by adding strips of oranges and yellows to frame the center section and improv cut curved edges (using this method) to add my Kona White. My finished starting unit finished at 13" x 13".

I wish I'd taken a photo of my kit. I packed my fabrics up in an orange plastic box, with an orange notebook for notes during its journey. Stay tuned for pics of the project I'm working on for the round robin this month.

Notes to other participants in the round robin (summary of what's in the notebook):

I indicated that I'd like my quilt to have the vibe of a medallion quilt, with my starting unit as the center. That said, I don't need there to be symmetry throughout the quilt and folks can choose if they add to one or more sides (no need to each make a full trip around the medallion). I wouldn't mind if my starting unit ended up off-center. I'd like a lap size quilt that could be square or rectangular in its final shape. Regarding fabric, I supplied a bunch, including Kona White, and gave instructions to let me know if they needed more fabric and to feel free to add fabrics of their own in the same palette I've chosen, including solids if they wish. I also gave them permission to share photos of the progress, so we'll be able to follow along with how my quilt is going over the year.

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Last month I returned the final quilt in my round robin with SCVQA guildmates back to its owner, but I forgot to share it on the blog. This is Suzanne’s garden quilt starting block. She included tons of fabric for us to use and the final round of the project was to add snowballs or log cabins. All I can tell you is that I chose snowballs. ;-)

The quilts are all back with their owners, but I haven't seen the finished tops/quilts yet. I look forward to sharing them with you when I do. You can see the starting blocks from each quilt in these four posts:

I'm participating in the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge with Cheryl of muppin.com.

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Yesterday I passed along the penultimate round robin project to the final maker. You can see all the details in the Round Robin Kickoff post. The project I worked on for Cherese in September was a lovely mix of bright solid-reading batiks paired with black and white and black on black prints. She started her project with a 12" star block below for the center of her quilt. In round four we were supposed to add four-patch or flying geese units to the project. I look forward to sharing what I added.

Sew the rainbow!

Working on this project really makes me want to get back to my Patchwork City blocks. The bright color with black and white is such a great combination!