A Round Robin (almost) Finish!!

I've been looking forward to sharing the results of this round robin group for several weeks now.  It all started last fall when 5 of us (Carol, Kathy, Allison, Julianne, and myself) joined together with Bea at Beaquilter to begin a round robin adventure that Bea organized.  The parameters were based on the size of each "round".  Everyone began with a 12" block and this free form Bug Hut was my starting point.  I wrote about how I created it HERE.

 

At the end of October, it went into the wild unknown to visit the other five gals!

I added the first border around Kathy's bear -- my first reaction when I opened her package was "oh, my" -- the imaginative color selection startled me at first but very quickly I decided to surround it with 3" bear paw blocks and shared some of what I was doing in November (HERE).  At this point, I don't know if I didn't take a picture of it with the border or if I just can't find it, but you'll see it in her post.

No sooner had I sent the bear off to the next stop than Julianne's piece arrived.  Wow, look at all this color!!  My addition is the scrappy 8-pointed stars -- it was easy to get them perfect using Marti Michell's Set E templates for 12" and 6" stars!!

Allison's birthday cake arrived next -- her inspiration was a significant birthday.  I searched around for compatible birthday party treats -- ice cream cones, poppers, candles and finally settled on cupcakes!!  And since I didn't want her to overindulge in cake, I added some complementary 9-patchs and fussy cut squares from a cheerful print in my stash! 

Everyone got really stoked up around the beginning of the year and at one point I had two of the traveling packages in my studio at the same time.  No pressure?!?  Bea's patriotic theme arrived about the same time a new tool arrived from Marti Michell -- the Peaky and Spike Multi-size Ruler.  So I tried it out and shared my experience HERE without revealing the true purpose of the blocks I made.

 I had quite a time deciding whether to hang the "pendants" down or up across the top but in the end you can see I went for down.

Last but not least was Carol's piece.  It is so colorful and I think I heard something about it becoming a picnic quilt?  I probably did the most auditioning with this one for both a block and color.  I chose the simple square in a square blocks and repeated the blue to keep the focus on the center of the piece. 

While I worked on Carol's piece, my piece arrived -- it returned home 3 weeks early and I decided not to open it until I had finished Carol's and sent it off. 

 

When I opened my box, I was stunned!!  

Wow, wow, wow!!!

I've spent the past month adding rick-rack and appliqueing down more bugs.

It's layered up, but as I was doing that I started waffling about machine quilting it or doing "big stitch" hand quilting with pearle cotton.   

This paper-pieced bee block has been on my "to-do" list for months so I was thrilled to find it included in my quilt, not just once, but four times!!  Thanks Kathy for crossing that off my list for me!!

 I had lots of fun adding the rick-rack even though it is totally not my style to embellish at all!! 

I found a sweet little bee fabric in my stash and made a dozen 3/4" hexagons which are spotted all over the piece -- I may add a few more while I decide about the quilting process. 

The backing has a label to remember all the quilters who shared their talents and inspiration with me!   This quilt will hang in my bedroom I think -- it's such a cheerful piece to contemplate!!

Bea is recruiting for another group -- the details and links to the other gals finished pieces are at her blog HERE.   It was fun and if you've never participated in a round robin, I encourage you to think about joining.  It will challenge you to go places you didn't know you could go!!

 

Mary Huey