Spring Fling Round Robin Progress

One of the swaps I have hosted 3 times, the Spring Fling Round Robin is wrapping up it's current session. I thought I'd show some of the work done. These could not be posted during the swap because it was a secret who's quilt we were working on. The end recipients each made the center blocks for their quilts so it was kind of obvious!

Here's the quilt I ended up quilting. It was made by Lil and Kate (go to the link above for their individual URL's) - both fantastically wonderful piecers and quilters. It went to Amy. Amy is a great quilter so I was kind of nervous working on this one for her. That's her center block (actually remade because the original one went missing in the mail along with this quilt which I made).

There's a little bit of beading at the flower centers. I quilted the background areas in floating feathers. It's bright little quiltie and I really love how it turned out.

...Center square, made by me. It went through the mail a few months and ended up looking like this (previously posted). This now resides in my house, all finished.

This center (just the dresden) was made by Laila. I added the pickles-n-curves 1st border and placed it on point. She used all CW repros, so I had to dig deep in my scraps to find similar fabrics.
Here's what her finished quilt turned out to look like, after another border was added, and yet another person quilted it.

And, Gina made the paper-pieced center for this quilt. John added the 2" triangle border. Then I turned it on point and added the stripey border in dark colors to help ground the churning busyness that this quilt was displaying. It's awesome piecing. This picture shows the quilt after Jen quilted it.

And another quilt top met it's demise between the UK and Luxemburg. I had to make a flimsy. I had pictures of the center and 1st border to copy, but not the 2nd border (just a snippet). It's similar, but not exact, as I had none of the original fabrics. Lil did a great job of quilting this, as always, and it was sent to Rita. We don't yet know if it was received or is also MIA.
This round robin gets generally good comments from it's swappers. They like the process and the end result. Will there be a next session???... Yea, probably. Sometime in the early fall though, and there will likely be another twist (this was the first session where we made our center square - which required only limitted blogging of borders). Stay tuned...

Lovely New Additions

My Spring Fling Round Robin-3 piece has come home to me this week. This is the 3rd session of this swap which I host, and in this session the recipients of each quilt were allowed to make their own center 8" square. This was the mechanism that each person was given to convey their style, color preferences and general likes to the other unknown people that would work on their quilts. Here is what I made. And here is the finished 20" quilt...
I selected fabrics that are in the quilt currently on my bed (and with incomplete quilting in this picture) as well as in the flimsy which I hope to have quilted by the Amish later this summer (also destined for my bedroom). My desire was for this to be a busy, colorful piece, in shades of cranberry, greens, aquas, limitted soft beiges, etc.

Here is the back. The quilting is an all-over pantograph-style quilting. It doesn't show up too much in this picture.

And here you can see how it might coordinate with the new quilt. It doesn't have as much of the aqua, but the cranberry and beige carries it well.

And it's actually a dead ringer with the old quilt. I say "old" - This has been on my bed just 5 years. It's not old, but it's before I really got meticulous about triangle points and some details which today drive me nuts. I created the center block using EQ6, and modeled it after some of the geometric blocks on this quilt - wanted a somewhat "flower" and star look - with lots of triangles. I think the 8" center block had 120 pieces in it!

The quilt is very nice. My thanks to Marlene, Alicia, and Amy for working on this for me (even if they didn't know it was for me!). Marlene said she suspected that it was my quilt she was doing a 1st border for, but I don't really know why she'd guess that! And the green that Alicia selected is just perfect for coordinating with both quilts. It couldn't be a better match.

On to my second nice delivery this week... This (the runner) came from Lisa and was PIF gift. It came with a couple nice pieces of Martha Negly prints which I can't wait to use. She's got great fabric taste (despite her love of brown :-)))

I thought that her choice of runner was ironicly unique. I never would have guessed Lisa do make anything not paper-pieced, as she's fantastic with this medium. The cathedral windows and excessive handwork really surprised me. I just told her to make something that she loved (preferably not brown), and that I'd appreciate it too. It's totally lovely, and coordinates fantastically with the two NYB pieces in red and purple in my dining room. Pretty convenient that my smaller buffet didn't have a matching piece, huh? I just finished a small 9"x12" piece for Kate as a part of a swap in this same Cathedral windows pattern. I cannot fathom making another, so I love that someone else did it for me. Look below...The detail is sweet - Little birdies in the center and on the two ends. It's very pretty - Thank you. And, Lisa, my trick to not make the white thread show, was to use a black sharpie to cover up when I had to take white stitches on the black material (it was a black&white print)!

Now, back when I signed onto Lisa's PIF, I did post about one of my own. Apparently nobody was interested. I will repost soon, or hold some form of another giveaway. Stay tuned..

The rest of this week is dedicated to working on a smocked birthday dress and the finishing points on Sophie's quilt, which must be delivered for the Maine Quilt Show next Saturday!

Two More Project Linus Quilts

My Spring Fling Round Robin quilters sent the 12 blocks below that were used for this quilt. They actually sent a total of about 70 12" squares, but I am down to assembling the last 2 of 7 quilts from these blocks! This one is done from a dozen blue and green boyish squares. Tami sent a piece of sweet blue along with her 4 blocks (and another piece of backing I'll likely use for another quilt) that I was able to use for the backing and most of the binding. I actually love the look of a binding scrapped from different pieces of fabric, especially when the quilt itself is somewhat scrappy. It's lovely - has all things boy from John Deere tractors, to boats, frogs, dogs and balls. It's such a great combination of fun boyish things.
The next one I called "Nothing Runs Like a Deere". I had acquired a few John Deere fat quarters last year. In my quest to rid my stash of novelties, I put together some half-Bento box blocks using the novelties. The back of the quilt is the very bright spring green. It reminds me of a field. I quilted it in a large meander using a variagated yellow-green thread.

Here's a little bit more closer in shot.

My two and a half year old couldn't NOT model these quilts for me. She's such a ham! And, she loves to see what I am sewing and handle the fabrics (probably dangerous traits!)

...and the other quilt too.

I am down to having blocks from the SFRR3 for 2 more donation quilts. I am in the process of assembling one set of these. It may get finished later this week. The last set of blocks lacks 3 in order to make the quilt. I'll have to get busy and create these. Other items on my agenda include...

• add a border to "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" - I'll show this one later this week
• Finalize plans on what I am making for my oldest son and start cutting
• make my 4"x4" starter square for the round robin I'm in (due May 15)
• Finish Debbie's Paris "vacation" block for the birthday block swap (& mail these blocks)
• Mail the row robin swap row
• Sandwich a couple of flimsies that I have laying around, and begin quilting
• finish quilting on a mini I'm doing for a 2nd cousins wedding.

Sounds busy enough!

Progress on the little things

1. Row Robin Swap - Here's my row for Lori. She sent me this as her first row. It has flappy 3D geese and pinwheels. I'm not really sure how she's going to quilt it, but that's not my problem to figure out. She wants rows that are blue, yellow and white, with a clean feeling and/or some movement. I used mostly all batiks, since she had also used batiks. I designed this ebb-flow ocean wave design using EQ6. I hope she likes it because the paper piecing took about 5-6 hours for this 48" row!

2. Here's one of my April birthday block swap offerings. Cheryl wants this diamond pattern with Asian prints - I had quite a few on hand to play with!

I still have another April block to do for the bday swap, and it is a vacation themed block. I have this one in the planning stages, but no further. It will be about my favorite place on earth (Paris!).

3. Progress on those pesky little bows...12 of 16 are hand sewn on. They are very cute. And then I must go back and confirm that I have in fact completed the quilting in all areas.

4. SFRR3 - a sneek peek at my 1st border...a little hand work and a little curved piecing.

Now, I am nearly free to start on something new (once that PP mess is cleaned up downstairs).

What I am doing...

...piecing more of the donation blocks from the SFRR3. These are just sashed together (machine quilting to be done in coming weeks). They are a nice boy quilt in blues, greens and red/orange accents. I added a two blocks with the John Deere fabric to round out the set. Sorry for the lack of clarity :-(
...adding scalloped binding to Sophie's quilt, despite swearing I'd never do this again. I actually had a much better experience this time. I practiced on a sample, and learned a great tip. Hand stitching to the back is taking a while, but is yielding great results. Wish I knew then (Dec 08) what I know now...

...trying to make a respectable bird (HA!). Actually, I am working on my row of a row robin I am doing. Here is the row I am adding onto. It's blue and yellow batiks, and she wants a design that is light, airy and possibly with movement. I designed a curved design with flying geese, ocean-ish below (with yellow fish) and white background above (her request) with a bird in the air. I am so disgusted with my birds (OK, this is try 2 at a decent PP bird). I got so frustrated that I decided to color this one with a sharpie! It's so hard to match the seams up - it is only about 3.5" square. I am currently back brainstorming my design and awaiting the arrival of some pale turquoise fabric I ordered last week before I sew further.

...and lastly, I bit the bullet. Got off the fense, so to speak. Sent in my application for the Maine State Quilt Show that is this summer. Part of me thinks I must be totally nuts, the other part knows that I am. I am entering Sophie's quilt in the judged division. I decided after watching the slideshow of the quilts from last year that I could handle this!

Flirty & Fun!

All my thanks to the fantastic ladies (Alicia, Kathy, Marlene, Rita, Gina, Alicia and Toni) and one gent (John) that made these nine blocks. They were a part of the SFRR3. This quilt is one of seven I am making from SFRR3 donated blocks...the fourth one so far.

My SIL gave me this pink cow flannel, and until now, I didn't have anything in mind for it. To coordinate the front with the backing, I added the black and white and pink borders to the block set. I just LOVE it finished, and hope a little girl will too.

A few Donation Quilts

Here's my most recent little stack of completed Project Linus donation quilts. It looks bigger than it really is - it's only 3 quilts, each about 40" x 55".
This one must be my favorite quilt that I have had the pleasure of doing in quite sometime. I have tried 3 times to get a great picture, and have given up. These are 12 of the nearly 70 blocks donated as a part of this session's Spring Fling Round Robin. Participants were asked to send two 12" patch or applique blocks as compensation for me mailing 26 packages in order to keep the swap anonymous. They sent one block for a girl's quilt and one for a boy's. There were a handfull of wonderful individuals that sent more than two blocks.

These were done by Tami, Jeanne, Wendy, Solidia, Trish, Liliane, and Julie (hope I didn't leave anyone out there!!). Out of my massive stack of blocks, I pulled twelve star blocks. I have named this quilt "Wish upon a Star", and it is most definitely for a girl. It has four blocks in it made from Fairy Frosts, which have the most luscious sheen & shimmer. I meander quilted it in a white rayon thread, which also adds to the shimmer.

The star block in the center that has the rocket was supposed to be for a boy's quilt, but I just couldn't resist using it here (plus I needed one more star!). It is just to remind whichever girl receives this quilt that anything is possible for her (I can say this because I am a mechanical & aeronautical engineer by trade).

I did this one (above) from my scrap bins, all except for the teddy bear novelty fabric at the centers (and a wide stripe on the backing). It's colorful & fun and appropriate for either gender, as I avoided all florally fabrics. The backing & binding are mostly this bold plaid.

Here's my last quilt. Kate (from the SFRR3 swap too), sent 24 donation blocks (12 for girl and 12 for boy). I showed the girl quilt last week over on the swap's blog, but have since finished up the other quilt. It's got lots of black, orange, blue and green fabrics. I added a border of this rather bold and wild black/grey/white dot, and quilted it in orange wavey lines.

The backing is also that dot. I was given about 4 yards of this stuff, and really never knew what I would possibly do with it (it's not my favorite). The binding is also this dot fabric, with a few insertions of bright orange just for color.

Many thanks, gals, your blocks are fantastic, and it was so much fun to make quilts with them! I have 3 more quilts in progress or planning stages with blocks from this swap.

Anybody interested in an Awesome Round Robin?

I have posted the signups for round 3 of this swap. The first 2 sessions were wildly successful, and there is a small twist to the 3rd round. If you are an intermediate quilter and are interested, have a look...

http://springflingroundrobin2008.blogspot.com/

(sorry about the erroneous link earlier!)

I have taken 16 quilters by invitation and have another 10 spots available.

Wipe this Happy Grin from my Face!!

Even as the hostess of a swap, I never expect to get such an absolutely incredible quilt!! This arrived today, and I am speachless...happy with glee! I need no Christmas presents, my holiday is complete. Thanks to the very most talented quilters that worked on it...Rose Marie, Carol, Liliane and Anne. Your work is amazing.
I just love how Lil's applique Iimpeccably done and needle-turned too) flows from the center block through the two borders. She's technically the 2nd border quilter, but she has tied the entire quilt together so beautifully. It's hard to tell where one quilter's work ends and the next one begins.

This piece is destined to hang in my daughter's bedroom, which is decorated in shades of pink, butter yellow, soft turquoise, and bright apple green. Think that it will look awesome???! most definitely.

Anne has outdone herself on the quilting too. The flower stamen and butterfly antennae are so neatly done, and the addition of the colors in the quilting is really very nice. I always love to see work done by truly talented quilters; it gives me such inspiration to work towards.

I personally would have never have had the guts to use this red dot as the background behind her flowers, but it works SO well. It's bold, and busy and just looks like there are more flowers in this garden paradise.

Many thanks again to all of you. I truly hope that you love your quilt as much as I do. Have a wonderful Christmas.

Swap Frustrations

Many of the people that read this blog have been participants in swaps, so they are able to share in my frustration. In fact, some of them have even hosted swaps as I do. You know the challenges of satisfying all people even more.
My round robin is coming to a close soon. People are finishing the quilting on their pieces, and sending them out to their final recipients. And then we anxiously await the happy email saying how much they like their quilt.

Or maybe not so much like that. This particular quilt did not really suit the taste of it's new owner, much to my disappointment.

In this round robin session, I allowed preferences as to what they like or dislike, and each of the 4 partners working on a particular quilt were given these. The intention was to more closely customize a final quilt to the end recipient's taste. It seemed good in theory. The problem is when quilter's take their own liberty to ignore these preferences, as is permitted (though not preferred). People come to expect a quilt that adheres to their stated preferences, forgetting that this is still a swap. I'd like to think that when people state things that they definitely dislike, a quilter will read these as a requirement for the quilt. Problem is, some people apparently dislike some colors that may be requested, and chose their own.

As the hostess of this swap, I feel somewhat responsible. But in reality, all I actually did was the quilting & binding. The center has a lovely applique. Simple, but still leaving the door open to make this in the requested colors. Because the borders are basic, I was stuck trying to be creative with the quilting (a position I prefer not to be in!!).

I used an ivory rayon thread in much of the center, and a variagated rose-red King Tut for the outer border. The center has some additional patterning, and is filled with a small stipple. Double click and you can see the details.

I mimicked the center flower on the outer border to try to carry the design through. This shows a little bit from the back side.

It's hard to blame anybody here. I hate to do that. Swaps by nature incur risk. I know that better than most, having a number of crappy swapping experiences this year. I am sorry you do not care for red. I am sorry that this was not specified in your preferences. On behalf of this quilting project, I did all I could to ensure that you received a nice quilt. That's all I can say.

Round Robin border

After staring at this all week (center block from Sharon), I opted to do a more simple inner border. Perhaps I am feeling tired, but I did lack on inspiration. Thankfully the lovely Bleaker Street fabrics that she used were in my stash also so I was able to sew without a trip to the store! The end effect, though simple, is very nice. Any guesses on which fabric is coming your way with this?!!

A Drowsy Blogger

The last week or so I feel like I have been asleep behind the blogging wheel. I am behind in my personal projects and have felt the stress from that more (despite having my bday block swap blocks done for the next 2 months, and my Miniature Booty quilt finished as well). I have 3 queen size bed quilts in the works, and none is ready for the LA quilter.

So rather than pull out what I really needed to work on (AKA those dreaded quilts), I pulled out my flannel scraps and whipped up a couple relatively simple flannel quilts for Project Linus. These make quilt numbers 9 and 10 for me to bring to a drop off in early October, for which I will receive 3 fat quarters for each quilt. That alone is a great motivator for me to finish another 3 or 4 before then! I'll get pictures up soon.

I staged 2 of my bed quilts this weekend on my bed. Until Sunday, they were still in too many pictures to put onto the bed and get a good visual of the quilt.

This is made mostly from charm squares of Moda Simplicity. I hate how the pastels wash out in the photograph. It does not help that the bedroom is dimly lit either. Sadly I just lost steam on this a few weeks ago. I am just on the fence over the rose borders. It seemed like the right color choice at the time, but in retrospect I wish it was a much softer color. Rather than take it all out (which is a project in a box forever if I go down that road), I am rethinking what to do with the remaining 8" of the border. It will have some of that rose on it, perhaps in swirling quarter inch applique (like stems or filligree). I am tempted to use it for the binding and do a scalloped edge to soften the look of the quilt too. That's the project for the week AFTER I return from here :-) (AKA vacation!!)

This past weekend I also sewed the 12 22" heart blocks together so I could get a good look at this quilt. I was very close to making these into 2 Linus quilts, but with my ambivalence with the Simplicity quilt, I have a reformed love for these blocks, and feel like the initial recipient of these would relate and appreciate this quilt more than the Simplicity. Further, I have another person in mind for Simplicity, who's style is really much more in line with those fabrics. So, with that ambiguity (grins!!) as they may be reading this before Christmas, I'll stop my blathering.

My plan for the hearts??... Add an 11" border. At first I designed up one, and fortunately (and much unlike myself), I made just one of the 14 blocks up last Saturday. I did NOT like it. I was much relieved there was not all 14 before I decided that too! The consensus was that it was not scrappy enough to blend nicely with the scrappy hearts. So I made a small modification and the borders are scrappy like the hearts. Pictures soon, promise. Unfortunately, I used all of my bolder Kaffe Fasset scraps (ones with turquoise), so border does not have those small "punches" of color. It will still look good. And, more importantly, this top will be completed before we depart this weekend. I have 2 of the 3 borders sewn and awaiting squaring and trimming before I attach them to the top. That's progress I can be proud of!

One last little show...Here's Nell's pet block for Kate's bday block swap.
It went into the mail today. Every house ought to have a fat orange cat. I already posted a picture of Anne's mariner's compass.

Oh and a glimpse of what I am sending to someone tomorrow...the center (part of the center) block for the Spring Fling Round Robin 2. In case you are reading and wondering...the fabric I sent with it is the red dotted batik! I call it "Lollalilou", because it reminds me of something out of Dr. Seuss and I think he had a creature named that!