Round Robin Finale Part 2

Well, here we are again with the Round Robin Finale Part 2.   I think some of us thought we might never get to this point but we did and really enjoyed seeing all the final quilt tops.

This one is Audrey's.  The colours are soft and gentle, just like Audrey.

Hers is huge - the largest at 90" square.

My contribution was the pink floating squares and yes, they took a while!

Del chose a really cute stitcherie which she copied from a card that started out about 2" square!

I added a border of tumblers - go to love my Accuquilt Go!

 

We all loved the centre of Andrea's!  How cool is this!

This ended up such a pretty quilt.

I had it easy and added the think dark blue followed by one of my favourite florals and echoed the circle in the middle by using my new drunkard's path templates. 

Cynthia had us all stumped!  What to do with this.  She explained that she wanted something bright, in your face, and something that sort of had an islander feel.

She also said she wanted a single bed sized quilt so when I was my turn I elongated it.

I added the purple panels with the hibiscus flowers on them.  Cynthia was the only one who wasn't there on Wednesday so I hope she likes it.

I love this split border - tiny pieced squares look so good there!

And finally mine.   This ended up being the smallest quilt of all.  The little stitchery in the middle was done by my mum before she passed away.  1930's fabrics just seemed to compliment the colours in the stitching perfectly.

This is the only one that I don't have a good photo of from the day and I also don't have one of me standing in front of it - which is actually quite a good thing if you ask me!  

 Audrey mimicked the flowers that my Mum had embroidered when she did her borders and she also added buttons which I love.  I used to often suggest embellishing some of our group quilts with buttons but noone else likes that idea so I don't suggest it anymore but I am glad they are on my quilt.  I would have loved that as a little girl.

 Glenys did a yellow piano key border and added grandmother's fan cornerstones, another of my favourite blocks.

 Cynthia added more little flowers to match my Mum's.  Just such a lovely thoughtful little touch.

 And you can't beat the tiny yellow squares and the flying geese and pinwheels - two more favourite blocks of mine.

When it is finished, hopefully later this year, this is going on the day bed in my office where there will be no teenage boys eating or drinking anywhere near it!

Till next time...........happy stitching!

Round Robin Finale part 1

In Jan/Feb last year the quilt group I belong to, The Gumnut Quilters, decided to start Round Robin quilts.  Of course I have absolutely no idea whose brilliant idea it was but there were times throughout the year that we all thought we had bitten off more than we could chew and wondered what on earth we had gotten ourselves into!  

Eleven brave souls thought they had time to commit to the project, little did they know!  Each person started with a 12 1/2" block of their choosing.  Each block was put into a bag with any suggested fabrics or instructions and requests - such as no blacks please, or homespuns only, or whatever.  Once we began we never again saw our own developing quilt top until today!  Each quilt group meetings if a RR quilt was there, the owner was sent from the room while everyone else admired the developments in hushed tones.  Often girls would get together away from the group to help with the work on a border, particularly towards to end when borders started to get rather big and heavy.  The largest quilt ended up around 90" square and I think mine is the smallest - a good single bed size.  

As we go around there is no point in me telling what everyone did to each quilt but I might as well point out what I did to each one.

So, let's start the tour!  

First up Cynthia's French General extravaganza.

My contribution to this one was the border with the fussy cut hexagons 

 and the corner stones

Let me make myself clear - I do not do hand stitching because of arthritis but these quilts were worth the struggle but Cynthia was rather taken aback at me hand stitching though!

Next came Sharon's.  She loves bows and this bow is actually off a piece of salvaged curtain material that Glenys, another Gumnut had given her.  

I did the second row of floating squares.

I had never done them before so I learned a new skill.......

slowly!   Luckily this quilt gave me lots of practice!

This one is Glenys - just love these clear colours!

This was such a pretty quilt to work on.   Love that white background.

 
To Glenys' I added the elongated half circles in homespuns to tone in with the squares that Debbie had done before me.  With all these quilts, whilst they were still a manageable size, I wanted to add something special, more than a simple strip of fabric if I could so i had to come up with something to follow a pieced border that wasn't too busy.  I place a rectangle of homespun on a rectangle of very thin interfacing and sewed my shape which I had marked on with pencil.  Each petal was actually an elongated oval at that stage.  Once I had sewn around the shape  with a really small stitch I slit the interfacing and turned the oval right side out and pressed the living daylights out of it to make sure you couldn't see the interfacing at all and then cut them in half and used on end on each square.  

Glenys is such a softie that she teared up when she saw hers.  Don't blame her it is lovely!

Debbie started with bowls in Kaffe fabrics.  

I was the first to add a border to Debbie's and went for a split border. 

Lyn surprised us all i think by choosing Kaffe fabrics for her lovely star block.  

That resulted in a beautiful bright quilt.  My contribution to this was that simple orange floral border - no piecing but I really thought the quilt needed another simple border at that point and I really loved the colour in the orange fabric and it seemed just right.

Miss Irene went for an Amish inspired homespun only centre square.  

One of the other Gumnuts, Cynthia and I decided to collaborate and complete the final border together as it was already such a big quilt.  We spent a whole day piecing the multi-coloured piano keys around the outside - there might only be two repeat of colour in each side of the quilt.  Amazing to think we had some many homespuns in the groups stash, mine and Cynthia's!  A little scary too maybe!

So that is six out of the eleven Round Robin Quilt Tops.  Now if you are not bored I will be back tomorrow night to show you the remaining five, including mine!

Till next time...............happy stitching!

Three more sets down!

Well, I didn't exactly blitz the pot holders as I had hoped to but I did get three sets made.  As you can see the tomato ones have the great tomato backing.  Still a few more sets to go and then I am done!

 Tomorow is a big day.  The Gumnut Quilters have finally finished our Round Robin Quilt tops!  Phew.  We started in February last year and had expected to be finished in January this year but circumstances were against us so we have run a bit late and now, tomorrow is the big REVEAL day!  

We all started with a 12 1/2" square.  We could choose to do anything we wanted.  This is my square.  The embroidery in the middle was done by my Mum before she passed away.  It was for me to incorporate into anything I wanted and I couldn't think of a better use for it!

 Everyone's square was so different.

 Some really reflected the taste of the owner

Some were a little unexpected 

but they were all lovely in their own way.

 Some were classic.

 Some a little more modern.

 A simple medallion

 Or a piece of stitchery.

 Applique

 and paper piecing 

 and even a plain square in the most gorgeous red.

Just you wait and see what they all turned into - you will be amazed.  We all were.  None of us have seen our own quilt top since we handed over our twelve inch square so tomorrow will be fun!  I guess that will be tomorrow's post!   Hope you can stand the suspense!

Till next time.............happy stitching!