Round Robin Kick Off

Our guild meeting was Monday, which was the exchange day for a Round Robin. That's a quilt group event in which each participant adds a round to a quilt, then passes it to the next person for them to add a round. Yes please - count me in!

So, today, I'm sharing the center for the start of my quilt, a printed chicken panel I picked up at our guild's fabric sales.

I think the original intent for this chicken was a pillow, as there are two of these. I'm sending only one for the center, and seeing what my fellow quilters in the group come up with to go around him. With the other, I'll do my own quilt, following the same rules (see below), but with a different set of fabric.

For my fellow quilters, I'm supplying quite a bit of chicken themed fabric, 

some acquired years ago at estate sales and such, and others from the guild. Also included are some blenders, and background, which should help with the overload of chicken fabric.

Our rules for this Round Robin state that each round should contain one of two elements:
round 1 - pinwheels or something from nature
round 2 - quilter's choice
round 3 - flying geese or four patch
round 4 - snowball or log cabin

Final rules such as size, additional fabric, etc, are provided by the owner, and listed on a worksheet that travels with the quilt. I asked for no additional fabric and that mine end up as a lap size.

And a final rule was no in-progress sharing on Instagram, Facebook, or blogs. So this little guy won't be seen again until the end of the year - the final quilt will be a total surprise! Sounds like fun, doesn't it? 

Have you participated in a Round Robin? Feel free to share your experience in the comments - let's inspire the start of new quilt groups!

Happy Quilting!

Thank you for following!

Patriotic Patterns for Celebrating

I love anything with red, white, and blue! And with July 4th just around the corner, my house is all decked out and ready to celebrate! Everyone's favorite, the Patriotic Wave runner is in the living room,

Salute is in the dining room,

United is also in the living room,

and Fireworks decorates the dining room wall.

See? I really like red, white, and blue! The above patterns are available in my QuiltFabrication Etsy shop, and the patterns below are also really cute - all in time for the 4th next week! 

Stars and Stripes from A Bright Corner,

                                    

Patriotic Love from Make It Coats,

        

Firework Table Runner from Make It Do.

                         

It's not to late to start stitching - enjoy the Fourth of July!!

Accent on Angles Update

Phew! I've had lots of little things to share recently - how about an update on the Accent on Angles quilt? (affiliate link)

I'm currently at the angle/insert strip stage for all of the strip sets,

with many more to go! I kept cutting fabric strips until the fat quarters were gone, 

resulting in 7 strip sets of four. That's a lot of strips to make a lot of blocks! This quilt will be bigger than the Autumn Joys quilt in the book, hopefully a lap size.

And I must say the instructions in the book for creating the angle blocks are top-notch! Susan Purney Mark writes full, complete instructions and provides great images - a beginner would have no trouble following along.

Right now it's fun to see the angled strip units coming together, though it does take a bit of time to create them. But once those angled units are sewn together, it's just a matter of cutting into the proper block size to place into a quilt layout. Woo-hoo! Almost there!

Happy Quilting today!

Petunia Patch Mini

Finally I get to share the tiny Petunia Patch blocks from last week! Here she is, the third Petunia Patch quilt from the Scrappy and Happy Quilts book (affiliate link), this time in a mini size.

Remember Petunia Patch 1 was bigger than I wanted, measuring 49" x 49" because of 9" blocks? And that I wondered about the quilt's ultimate purpose? Well, for the moment, I decided to use it as the larger quilt in the local fair's 'Mini Me' contest. 

                              Petunia Patch 1 and Petunia Patch Mini

After making Petunia Patch 2 with 7" blocks, I realized the blocks were very forgiving for resizing. Why not make an even smaller version specifically for the contest? With 3" blocks, Petunia Patch Mini measures in around 17" x 17". That fits the contest criteria of "the block must be less than half the size".

This little unfinished block measures 3 1/2" x 3 1/2", which is a third the size of the original.

Though not necessary, I placed all of the little petunias in the same positions as on the big quilt, Petunia Patch 1,

even situating directional fabrics the same. 

                                               Petunia Patch 1  
                                      

                                              Petunia Patch Mini


Ditto for the green stems. Check out how the strip size really changes the look of the fabric print.

                                           Petunia Patch 1

                                       Petunia Patch Mini

Crazy me even miniaturized the Robinia pantograph to 39%, 

though I wished I had used a thinner thread. I'm certainly not un-stitching all of that!

Petunia Patch 2 now lives with her new owner, while Petunia Patch 1 and Petunia Patch Mini are hanging at the fair - I can't wait to see all of the quilts this year! More to come about the fair on Monday.

Happy Quilting!

June 2019 Book of the Month

It's June, which means a new Book of the Month selection. This time I'm choosing an older book, one from 2011, called Accent on Angles (affiliate link).

Purchased many years ago, Accent on Angles (affiliate link) has sat on my bookshelf as one of those 'someday I'll make that' kind of books. 

And now that time has come. Glancing through it, I was struck at how a couple designs had a modern look to them, especially Dragon Bones.

Quite modern looking, right? Makes me wonder who thought up the insertion of strips first:  the author or the modern quilts movement. No matter who deserves credit, it sure is an interesting technique.

So I'm off to gather my fabrics and get started on making an accented angle quilt!

Happy Quilting!