LRR, Round 4 finished on 2 sides

The fourth step of the Liberated Round Robin [a "nested" round robin, which means it stays at home for the whole process] is "Strips or Strings".  I had a long band of red and white strips that were left over from an earlier project.  I had sewn the little pieces together as Leaders and Enders during that project, and the band was in my Orphan Box.  I added a ticking strip on each side.

Current size is 25" X 43".

The next step is already announced as "Curves", so I will make something for the two long sides.

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First of the tomatoes to start reddening!

Queen of the Prairie in bloom.

Sara

Gratitudes:

BLT for lunch with local tomato
Progress on SpoolSpinners' quilt idea for Guild raffle
Lots of people came to raise money for Sue Brown tonight

LRR, Round 3 finished on 4 sides

Finished this round tonight, and quilted the last [bottom] border after adding it.  I wasn't sure I wanted to add on all four sides, so there was an "incubation" period while I watched a waited for direction.  Finally with the change in colors and size, it seemed like the right thing to also add a bottom border in squares.

The top squares are printed on the fabric, so no complicated construction was required.  I liked the idea of having one "regular" set of checkerboards that were NOT wonky to show that this was indeed intended to be a "squares" border.

The other three borders were pieced in a slightly wonky way.

So far the "quilt as you go" method is working well.

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Family vacation without a sewing machine made for little quilting in the last 2.5 weeks.  Now I'm back at work, and hope to finish a new baby quilt soon.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Attic fan to cool house in the hot evenings

A/C in the cars

Eye doctor says no shot needed this time

Family birthday party for Samantha

Liberated Round Robin, Step 3

I've been making squares for the next step of the Liberated Round Robin on the internet.  And I decided that the paisley print on the bottom was making my next decisions difficult.  Took it off and replaced with polka dots.

Then I added some plain red small borders to rest the eye between triangles and square-to-com.

Then I read Melody's posts about Quilt-As-You-Go borders.  Why, I could do that with this whole quilt.  Round Robins are just adding one border after another!

So I was distracted by the need to quilt what I had for the middle already before moving on.

Here's where I am on that right now.











But I just couldn't wait to add a border in the quilt as you go method.
This is how you do it:

Top border fabric [black and white check] face-to-face with the top; backing border fabric [green] face-to-face with the back.  Pin all three edges together.  No batting at this point!

Sew these three layers together.  I'm using a quarter-inch seam.

Now take your strip of batting and BUTT it against the edge of the three fabrics you just sewed together.  Using a zig-zag stitch sew together, just catching each side without overlaping them.

Here's what it looks like when you are done.

Then you flip the two border fabrics over that seam and press.

Now you quilt this border.

Trim off the excess batting and fabric.

Front has grown by one border side [black and white check].

And the back has grown by one border side [darker green].









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Today we are leaving for a week of vacation at a cottage near South Haven, Michigan. We will be nine family members together. I'm on duty with the oldest grandchild to make dinner tonight.  After that I'm going to enjoy the dinners cooked by other teams of two.

Sara

Gratitudes:
Family able to be together this year
Finished my reports for our Board meeting
Garden flowers in bloom

LRR, Round 2 finished

Got this done very quickly because:
1) the Initial Block was sitting out where I could see it, and
2) the spikey triangles block was all done in my Orphan box. and
3) the red/white HSTs were bonuses from a Bonnie Hunter mystery last year.

Do you think the large paisley print helps tone it down?

Next Round will be assigned in June sometime.

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Womens' Chorus technical rehearsal last evening had us on our feet for two hours with a couple of short breaks.  My feet and knees were/are suffering arthritis pain.  I hope I will be able to sit down tonight while our visiting artists are performing, usually we stay standing on the risers.  I'm sure I will make it through the concert, but enjoying the reception may not be possible.

Sara

Gratitudes:

The music is challenging and fun
"End of the World" around here consists of the first mosquito hatch
Green, green, green all around us

Liberated Round Robin, Step 2

The instructions were out today to "add Triangles".  So I am trying out some "spikes" that were in my orphan box.

And I am trying different black, or gray, or white, or red strips before the spikes.  Lots to think about.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I mowed the labyrinth between rains
My feet survived the Chorus's tech rehearsal tonight, barely
Have my part of the reception food ready

Liberated Round Robin start

I've joined the Liberated Round Robin and we need to be choosing/preparing our beginning block.
Once I looked in my Orphan Block Box and decided to use up some red/white/black blocks in this project, this block jumped out as a starting point:

Lovely Hershey kisses fabric, isn't it? A perfectly fine Shoo-Fly block. But a little SIMPLE since it was 12.5 inches square.  You can barely see that I began slicing it up.  I inserted black strips as if making an "asterisk" or "fireworks" block.

I decided to cut a little off-center, and one of the strips was created by ripping off a wedge to straighten a piece of fabric.  Oh well, just used the wedge.  And all this somehow made the block 12.25 inches square.  Hmm, rather odd.

 There, I've got the start of the Round Robin.  Next instruction in a week.  [We are not going to pass this around, but do all the borders/additions ourselves.  No mailing.]


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And in the Progress of Spring department, we have three Redbuds on the left side of the hill down to the lake.

And we have some new anemones:

And the first iris:

Sara

Gratitudes:

Lots of Scouts came to pull garlic mustard at Peace Park
Labyrinth mowed before last night's rain
Roasted parsnips & new potatoes