Stay-at-Home Round Robin

There seem to be so many new quilt-alongs beginning as the new year gets started, and they all look like fun.  I'm trying to rein in the number of new quilts that I start, but some are hard to resist. One that has me especially intrigued is the Stay-At-Home Round Robin (SAHRR) hosted by Gail at Quilting Gail with help from several of her quilt blogging friends.

I've never participated in a regular round robin, but I have always wanted to give it a try. Here is Gail's explanation of a traditional round robin:

"This is a common activity in many quilt guilds. A round robin (in quilting terms) is where each person makes a centre block. This block is put in a bag or container, maybe with extra fabric, perhaps with a notebook, and the bag is passed onto another quilter in the group. They are given instructions as to what kind of border they are to add on to the quilt. Sometimes the next person will make a border for each side, or one side or two sides of the block. It’s then passed on to another quilter and it continues on … when the quilt centre and all the borders are completed, it is returned to the original maker of the centre block."

For the Stay-at-Home Round Robin, each quilter will make all the different parts for their own quilt. The "Round Robin" part of the process will be that each week one of the co-leaders will give instructions for the next border to be added. The quilter has to figure out how to make that border plan work with their quilt, or they can decide to leave it off. 

The first step is to come up with a block for the quilt center. I had recently run across an old UFO started in 2001. Earlier that year I had made this little wallhanging (36" square) for a quilt shop challenge. The design is a variation of the Judy Martin pattern "Desert Twilight" from her book The Block Book. It now hangs in our den above the mantel.

Desert Twilight wallhanging, 36" square

At that time, I had been thinking about making a bed-sized version of the Desert Twilight design. The star blocks in the original wallhanging measure 6". My plan was to make larger feathered star blocks to put in those places. I made one feathered star block as a sample, using some of the same fabrics as the original quilt.

This single block is as far as I ever got on that quilt plan. I still have many of the original fabrics, and I think this block will look great as the center of a medallion style quilt. The star measures 14.75" to the points, but there is extra background around the outside which could take the block up to a max of 17". 

I will be waiting eagerly until next Monday to find out the plan for our first border. There are seven rounds of borders planned, with a new one being added each week until the end of February. If you are interested in joining in, check out Gail's info post HERE. You can see the center blocks that people are planning to use HERE. Come join the fun!

Linking up with:

Stay at Home Round Robin at Quilting Gail

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA