Round robin has come home

For the past 3 years I have participated in Julie's Cotton Robin. For those of you unfamiliar with round robins - each participant makes a center block and passes it on to someone else who adds to it. In this round robin the center gets 2 rounds of borders and a third for quilting and binding. When it's finished it heads home back to the person that made the center block.

The process is anonymous so you do not know who is working on your quilt. It's always a creative challenge working with someone else's ideas and integrating your own into the mix. It is one of the things I really enjoy each year.

You can see this year's reveal here and my posts from previous years here and here.

This year I made a (slightly too busy) block from small equilateral triangles. Each one finished at 1 inch tall. I admit that I should have used a less busy background, but I wanted to introduce more colors into the mix. The block was an experiment for me - the round robin is a great opportunity to try out a technique on a small scale. I would love to make a big quilt with lots of these stars in different colors.

The first border was done by Julie who headed towards a color scheme that was a bit quieter that my start. At first I thought it dulled it all down, but now I think it lets the center shine. The piecing really enhances the center.

Maria did the second border and created a checkerboard design in grey and purple. I love the skinny aqua border (added by Julie or Maria) which sets off the two others.

The quilt was hand quilted by Cathy. The hand quilting was the perfect choice and echos the print in Maria's grey fabric. She added little 6-point stars in the checkerboards. I also love the blue binding.

I worked on three other quilts. First was Anne's improv center block. I added a border of little fuschia squares surrounded by dark blue and green batiks. I had trouble getting started on this one. The center didn't lead me in an obvious direction. I thought I wanted to create something with a regular pattern without losing the spirit of the improvisational piecing.

I added a second border to Sandra's tree. Glen had added an unusual curved woven section and I added the darker black strips, blue crosses, and a hot pink/orange outer border. I thought this one needed something bold and quirky to hold it all together. I like the asymmetry of the finished quilt.

The final round was Rachel's applique center. The two borders were so well integrated it was hard to tell where one started and the other finished. I decided against FMQ and did outlining on the applique, continued the circular lines for a while and then added rectangular spirals in each corner. Everything was quilted using a very fine beige thread.

I love doing these round robins. Every finished quilt is a surprise. And, although my quilts never turn out as I expect, they are always fun. Everyone's perspective is different and that's what makes it such an enjoyable process. I can't wait until next year.