Summertime Row Robin

I'm so excited to have this quilt done and hanging up in my home office for the summer. The last of the embellishments were added yesterday while watching golf on TV.

This was a guild project - a row robin, rather than round robin - from a couple of years ago. My row is the large center row with the flip flops. Each one has ribbon and fun buttons on it to make it 3-D just like a real flip flop.

The fish row has button eyes and the beach ball row has buttons in the center of each ball. There are a few little shell shaped buttons on the beach house row. The bottom row is all paper pieced and each block is unique.  The top row is a mixture of applique and pieced blocks.  And I added this Loralei "patch" onto the front as the label. You'll find her on the beach among the palm trees. I wrote on her hat but decided I couldn't hide her on the back.  I LOVE the whole thing!!

Linking up to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

Perfection is in the details

Last evening I worked on adding some of the embellishments to the Row Robin UFO. My label went on the front of the quilt because it is just too cute to hide on the back of something that will hang on a wall.  This darling embroidered Loralei "patch" has become my label. It was lying forgotten in my stash and seemed just perfect for a label. See where I wrote all of the important info on her hat? 

Buttons were added to the centers of each beach ball in another row. This row looks like waves breaking onto a sandy beach and has several beach balls of different sizes bouncing along. And check out the kites my quilter added to the sky on this row. So cute!

Next up are the tiny little buttons for eyes on the fish row, and some flip flop buttons for the palm tree row.  And finally I'll need to add the ribbons and buttons to the flip flops in the center.  I hope to have this done and hanging by the weekend.

Custom quilting

Beautiful quilting really makes a quilt come alive and sometimes it is really worth having some custom quilting done on a project.  This week I picked up my Summer Fun Row Robin from Deb, who did the custom work on it.

She really "got" the theme of summer fun.  Each row of blocks was added by a difference guild member, and each row was so unique.  Deb stitched some waves in the water and kites in the sky in the row with the sand, surf, and beach balls.

In the row with the 3-D palm trees, she added some shells and some lines that make it looks like the sand moves.

I still need to bind this quilt and then hand stitch all of the great embellishments that I got from the gals making the blocks. I even have a tiny paper-pieced ice cream cone block that I'm going to use in my label.

This quilt will hang in my office/family room at home during the summer months, where I can enjoy it every day.

More Row Robins quilts

Heartland Quilters' Guild members are just full of talent and creativity.  Here are the rest of the Row Robin quilts from our recent meeting. There were 18 in all. Forgive some of the poor photo quality - I definitely need some photography lessons.

Row Robin winners

Connie - 1st Place

Cindy - 2nd Place

Louise - 3rd Place

Row Robin

Just a quick look at my completed Row Robin quilt. I really love everything that was added to it. 

Paper piecing

I've been paper piecing but I can't show you (yet) exactly what I've done.  We are in the final month of our guild's Row Robin project and needed to add a 4.5" row of 12 blocks to the quilt we received.

I've paper pieced this row and here is just a tiny hint of what the owner will find on the first Saturday of September.

Personally - the anticipation is really building and I get really excited thinking about what my quilt will look like once I get it back at that guild meeting. So exciting to think it has passed through the talented hands of 6 other ladies!

1930s reproduction prints

I've pulled a few prints from my stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics to use in the next Row Robin assignment. My regular readers probably remember that our local quilt guild is doing a Row Robin project.  Lot's of fun!  Each month we receive a box or bag with another guild member's quilt top and our task is to add something specific to it.

This month we are adding 12 blocks (finishing at 4" each) on the top row.  All of the fabrics in the quilt I received are 1930s prints, so I dug into my large stash to select a few that might work.  Now I just need to figure out what to add that will fit in with this quilt's theme. 

I can't reveal the result until September when we all get our finished quilt tops back at the guild meeting.  We are even voting on the best 3.  I'm planning to take lots of pictures.  And I can't wait to see what has been added to my own quilt.

One June goal is done

I can't post a picture yet, but am happy to report that my June row is complete for the Row Robin project.  This was a 6" row and I am very pleased with the results - which I think fit perfectly with the theme of this person's quilt.  So - I've written in her book, autographed her label, and packed it all back up in the box so it's ready to pass along to the next person on the first Saturday of July at our guild meeting.

Row Robin fun - Row 2

I can't post any photos of my blocks or my rows - or anyone else's rows - until the Row Robin project is all finished and we have our quilts back. I have taken pictures however. And when we are all done I hope to share some of them.

I will show the color scheme of the first row I made because Connie knows I'm working on hers this month so I'm not giving away any secrets by following her color pallet. I designed my own 8" block and I've included that pattern along with some scraps of my fabrics for her. And I've signed her label. Everything is packed back into her bag and ready to pass along at the next guild meeting.

Having this done early was really important since I know I'll miss that meeting. I'll drop this off some day this week with another guild member to deliver. What a fun project! The anticipation is building! Can't wait to get the next one to work on, and of course to get mine back all finished.

Row Robin beginning

Our guild is doing a Row Robin this year and we'll exchange our "box" at the March meeting.  I think I have my Row Robin box all ready to go.  This will be a new experience for me and I can't wait to get started.

My theme is Summer Fun!  The first row is 4 blocks (12" finished).  I used the "flip flop" pattern that I've used before a couple of times.  I'm asking for lots of bright summery colors and any design that says "summer fun" to them.  The sashing between each row is a yummy red batik.

The exchange box will have my first row, the sashing strips for all of the future rows, and a small notebook for everyone to write in as they add their row.  I may also include a label for people to sign.  Then each month we will trade boxes, so I will not see this for at least 6 months while other people add to it. And each month the new row will have certain specifications, such as 8" blocks or 6" blocks.

Once I get this back, then I'll add the ribbon straps and buttons to these flip flops before quilting.

Setting small goals for February

I have decided that I need to set some small goals for the month of February.  My UFO list has a bunch of things on it that only need binding and labels. Lots of other UFO items are literally "in pieces" yet and need much more attention.

So I'm going to try to tackle 2 easy finishes, work on at least 1 other UFO, and allow myself to play with some new projects.  Here are my February goals:

Needing binding and label:
1.  Hugs & Kisses baby quilt (pictured here)
2.  Owl baby quilt

WIP needs lots of attention:
1. Put sashing on Terrain version of Fat Quarter Stars

NEW project:
1.  Row Robin blocks for guild project (make my 4 blocks to start project)