Round Robin #10 Blue Jays
 

Group 4 - "Blue Jays"
musicaljan
Marslaura
ckcowl
paperpieceme (Leader)
c joyce

Round Robin #10
This round robin is meant to be a fun, social and learning experience. There is no skill level requirement, only to do the best work that you can. You should not feel that every round has to be a very complex design…sometimes the quilt will just need something very simple added at that particular point. If you have concerns about what to add at any point, feel free to ask for help from others in your group, the host of the RR, other sewing friends, or even the owner of the center. Remember…this is FUN!

Center should be any size between 12 "- 24 "finished, dividable by 3. (Be sure to add ½” for seam allowance!) The center may be square or rectangular. (The center block, all borders, cornerstones, or whatever should be carefully squared each step of the project.). The size of your center will determine the finished size of your quilt.
Borders will be 3 1/2" - 9 1/2" dividable by 3's again. (The center block, all borders, cornerstones, or whatever should be carefully squared each step of the project.)
Option - in lieu of any one of the first 2 rounds, the block may be turned on point, if appropriate. Triangles are then added to each side of the "diamond" to make it into a square again. Appliqué or embellish the corners.
• The bigger you make it the more the people adding rounds will have to do.
• Fabric: 100% cotton, washed. Please do not use any scented spray or item near fabric. Some of our members have allergies to scents, animals, smoke, etc.
• Include a label that each person may sign and a journal if desired. . Please use a Black Pigma pen or some type of black permanent fabric marker. You might want to leave enough room for everyone to list their name along with their board name, their city, state, country, and the date.

• Be sure to include instructions in your journal so the others know what you envision as a finished project. What will the finished project be used for: tablecloth, wall hanging, or lap quilt? Will your quilt have a season theme or color scheme?
• Each round should be worked. This means, a border needs to be more than just a single strip of fabric added. Examples of borders: add something in the corners, add several rows of borders, piece borders, appliqué borders, paper piece borders, hand embroider on borders, etc.. You can add an appliqué to a previous border, but you must add to that border.
This is a learning experience. Try new things!
• The owner is free to alter, add, adjust or do anything they want with the quilt.
We will be posting pictures with each round, unless you specify that you do not want to see your quilt until it is finished. For most of us…we just can’t wait.
Please stay on target for the mailing dates. You will have 2 months between mailings. If something happens that will cause you to be late mailing, please email the person who you will be mailing to and the leader of the group.

Graciously accept your finished quilt
Sometimes the final quilt owner will want to add more embellishments or add an additional border, but everyone who worked on your quilt used their best abilities. After the RR has closed, of course it is your quilt to do whatever you choose. We will all look forward to seeing the quilted final product! Please do not post pictures that show alterations or changes in someone else’s work though. Please be conscious of others feelings. If this isn’t acceptable to you, please DO NOT play.

Tips and Lessons Learned:
1. Print off the rules, mailing dates, your group mailing list.
You will be referring back to it.
2 Don’t panic…hang the top for a few days and let it speak to you. They tend to “tell you what they need next”.
3. If you are trying something new….do it on the separate border, do NOT sew it to the quilt until you are sure it worked.
4. Please DO NOT let tops pile up on you. If you need help, ask…there are others who can and will step in to help you through a time crunch bind. We can work it out.
5. Please handle the quilts carefully. We all drag them around to show them off to friends, guild members, LQS, etc. but when doing so, we can stretch the borders so the finished quilt doesn’t lie flat. Please make sure it does lie flat prior to mailing it on to the next person.
6. If for ANY reason, you feel the need to resign from doing this at ANY point in the "game", PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know! It's not fair to the others for someone to just pull out, not tell anyone and keep what is not theirs.
7. No public criticism. If you are having a problem with something, please notify your leader.

Mailing dates:
Oct. 1, 2013
Dec. 1, 2013
Feb. 1, 2014
April 1, 2014
June 1, 2014


You will always send to the same person. Have fun.

Good Morning Ladies! welcome to the blue jays. it says i am the leader, but i have never done one of these, so i consider myself more of a cheerleader. I am very excited to get started, so lets see lots of pics. and if you have any questions let me know and i will find out the answer

um your group is silent ppme! are they all hiding?

okay Ladies, I am feeling lonely :( . please check in and tell us about yourself

I am excited to be one of the blue jays! :) our *fearless leader* is the person I send to and was wondering...would you mind receiving my block early- or would you prefer I waited until October? I don't want to cause stress- while you are creating your own block. I have participated in multiple round robins for the past 10 years- sometimes 2 or 3 in one year--then I took a couple years off- last one was 2011- and that quilt is SPECTACULAR! it is actually the one on my bed right now....I love round robins- it is always so amazing to see what others will do with a block- sometimes it is so totally unexpected! everyone take a deep breath, and don't stress over the small stuff- look at what you receive & just think about what you feel would be good next. :) it is a fun project- not a stressful one. :) enjoy the process, sometimes step out of your comfort zone- I have at times taken one to the local quilt shop & said...I just don't know what to do next & get lots of feed back from everyone in the shop...sometimes I listen- sometimes I go in a totally different direction- sometimes it is just good to get some feedback from someone else. I have my picture taken- ready & excited! marslaura---you mail to me- so, any time you are ready & want- send it my way- just please let me know when it is on the way so I can be expecting it. :) Hurray! here we go. :)

Hi Ladies, this will be my second RR and I'm really excited to do another one as the first one was a wonderful experience. Figuring out what to do for each round was challenging and most of all fun. Looking forward to deciding on my center so your talents can make it beautiful. I had a little kitchen accident - lot of blood and a few sutures on a finger - and will also be on vacation for 10 days so I'm hoping to make my center when I return and have the finger healed.

i am ready to go, my center is done and in the mailer so whenever you are ready to mail. i am ready to go :)

it sounds like our group might be injury prone, i went face first down the stairs in my house on Monday as I was coming down for the day. DH heard me from the basement and everyone came running to find mom in a bloody heap. I look like a real beauty right now with bruising all over my face.

OH MY GOODNESS! You need to take it easy on yourself! and use the hand rail! that is what it's there for. :) I hope you mend quickly. my block is all packaged, addressed- I even remembered to take a picture before I sealed the package. :D I will put it in the mail tomorrow morning on my way to work. are we posting the pictures on this 'topic' spot? or will there be a 'main' topic specific for all the pictures? I will let you know for sure when it's on it's way & when to expect it- so excited to get these going! :)

Paperpieceme....send anytime to arrive about Jul 30th ( that's when I'll be home from vacation). I can put it up and wait for the light bulb to go off or wait for it to "tell" me what to do. So many of you already have your centers done, but no pics posted?? Give us a preview.

here finally is the picture of my center block I sent to 'paperpieceme'... she should have received it yesterday- I hope it arrived safely. I am anxious to receive the first one to work on- always so much fun! [ATTACH=CONFIG]425549[/ATTACH]

ckcowl...while I am over here sneaking a peak, just want to say that your center is AMAZING! Can't wait to see a final quilt designed around that.

ok- group---and fearless leader...... we need to stop in every now & then & 'touch base' otherwise we will 'fall through the cracks' and it will be difficult to find our (place in this vast forum) so, just stop by & say hi, let us know if you are brainstorming, or working on your centers....keep in touch. :)

it doesnt look like we have seen everyone on this thread yet. Can everyone say hi, so i know that you have made it over safely?

maybe we are going to have to (pm) each of the members who have not 'checked in' to make sure they know they are part of us? there is the possibility they have missed the group posting-and do not know the assignments have been made???

Well, the doc told me this morning that it would take another 6 weeks for my finger to heal, but that is not going to stop me from making my center this week. I will just have to adapt and keep going. I'll post a pic by this weekend and am looking forward to seeing all of yours too.

so, has anyone heard anything from the 2 members of our group who have not posted here? are they posting on the main round robin topic? are we only (3) ? that would be a bumber- communication is kind of important for a successful round robin. this is kind of feeling like a bust before we even get going... :(

Hello. I am a member in this group. I am looking forward to the round robin quilt. I have done 2 round robins in our quilt guild, but never one on here It was my understanding that October was the first due date. Is that still accurate? I am not able to post on here often. Also, at this time, I am not able to post pictures. My laptop is a dinosaur and all efforts to post a picture (to any site or email) has failed. If posting frequent notes and/or pictures is mandatory then I'm afraid I won't be able to participate. 8(

The quilt I'm wanting to make for this round robin will be for my entry way. It will hang on the wall. I'm trying to choose a pattern of a house. I'm just not sure which one I want yet.

Can our group leader advise me further regarding this swap? Thanks. Jan

All ladies of the swap have checked in with me, we are good. communication is important but so is making all of our members feel welcome. The first due date is October 1st and we have plenty of time. I am more than happy to take pictures of any tops that come my way and post them or if folks want to mail me pics via the post office I can post those too. the one question i do have for all of you is what style of fabric do you like? 30's, batiks, reproductions, brights. our big sewing expo is coming up a month from today and there will be vendors galore! if email works better for folks to stay in touch my email is idigpotatoes at gmail dot com (with all the regular punctuation i just dont want the spam bots to pick it up)

mailed my center to cjoyce today.

yea! sounds like we are off & running now. :) I too can take & post pictures when I receive if that helps anyone- I will also take a picture after I add my border-before sending on- we will be able to keep them up so don't stress over it if you can not take a picture- as for what kinds of fabrics I like....I do love batiks, small prints, tone on tones- not so much into the reproductions, 30's, and novelties- although they do have their place and I use them when they fit what I am working on- my current rr block would not really 'fit' with any of those.

ckcowl, that is a pretty center. I am glad everyone has checked in. Communication is a big thing. I will be looking forward to seeing your progress.

picked out the fabric to add the first borders to the center i received.

okay ladies i dug us out of the basement on page 3... i cant believe its almost september. goodness it goes fast. i am going to work on the block i received in the next few weeks. we homeschool and virtual school here so i need to make sure i make time for it. hope you all are doing well :) i am excited to work on the one i received but i have a few more small projects to finish here first.

hope everyone is busy working on their centers, if you have not mailed already you have until October. That used to feel like a long way away but it keeps creeping up on us.

I hope everyone is working away on their center blocks- I am looking forward to having one show up in my mail box to begin working on- fun winter project. :)

Hi Everyone,
We have had someone who had to drop out of the Round Robin. We are looking for someone who can replace this person. Do you or do you know someone who would like to do this? It is just a group of five and the mailing is every other month. Please drop an email to TheMamaHauser and she will get you all signed up. You can drop me an email also and I can help answer any questions you might have.
Thanks so much,
Nexxus831

Just a quick FYI, we found a replacement for the member who needed to drop out of the Blue Jays group.

Hello Blue Jays,
I am sorry to say that I have to drop out of our group, I did receive my first center already and I will be sending it to my wonderful replacement in the morning.

I wish you all the best of luck, it sounds like great fun!

Hey, Blue Jays! well, if you haven't heard, i am replacing paperpeiceme in this round robin! I understand that she is the Lead of this group and i do not mind doing this as well, but don't want to step on any toes! please let me know if you prefer to lead as you guys have already been getting to know each other! i am taking her place in the mailing order, so i hope it is not too disruptive. i should have my center ready to mail by the first, or shortly there after. i am making a blue and yellow center. gonna try to attach photo....oooh! this picture is more vivid than in person!!! need to add borders to get to right size...

Hi, again, everyone! Checking in and updating. ckcowl, I received your block from paperpieceme. Really excited that I will get to work on this beautiful center. C Joyce, I am a bit under the weather this weekend, but sure I can still be ready to mail my center to you by Tuesday! How is everyone else? I went back to read all the post and find this to be a fairly quiet group. Please stay in touch and be sure to post when you send and receive a center. Our first mailing date IS Tuesday! I am excited. For anyo e not aware, I am also in the Cardinals group. Love having a chance to do two quilts!

How much fun!! Round Robins were my favorite thing to do 10 years ago when I was part of an online community. I have some lovely tops as memories and cherish each one! I think I'll be as excited as you guys to watch these tops grow and develop. Can't wait to see more pictures! I just found this group, so I'm not signed up for any swaps yet, and will be living vicariously through you all ;)

Alikat110, glad you could join us! and happy to 'hear' my center arrived to you safely- I am anxious for the first one to arrive at my door- it has been a 'quiet' group- which kind of keeps me *stressed* but trying to stay positive & sure we will all stay involved & it will all work out in the end. ;) I am excited to get started & already have a group of fabrics for yours when it finally gets to me- since I send to you I will be adding the final border to yours- oh what fun! I love blue & yellows together. :) I hope the person sending to me is ready! :)

Hi Everyone...my center is out and on it's way to musicaljan. I can't wait to get the one I'm supposed to work on. I really love a round robin. I don't have a pic of my center because I don't do well with the camera and my husband is not available to help out. Actually, he forgot to take the picture for me before he left on a business trip, but he'll take pics as I do my turn with each center so you can all see the progress of your center. My center is a hand-stitched antique block that I found at a flea market a while back. I didn't want to do the expected cushion or just frame it. Then this came along and as I was considering what I'd do, the light bulb went off and I know that you all will do it justice and maybe with your knowledge of fabrics be able to help me date the piece. Can't wait to get started!

Thanks for checking in ccowl and c joyce. I did not get mine out as I thought I would. Aiming for tomorrow. Still under the weather, but getting better. Even plan to go in to work tomorrow! Ssnare, musicaljan, please don't be shy....hehehe. let us know how you are doing! C joyce....bet we can post a pic for you to help if you need us to.

musicaljan, did you receive the center I sent out on the 1st?

marslaura, have you sent me your center yet? please let me know when to expect it so I can be prepared for it. :)

Haven't received a center yet & don't have confirmation of the center I sent?????

here we are the middle of October= I've not heard ANYTHING from the person who is supposed to be mailing to me- have no idea if she is still part of the group- if I will be receiving a center===if anyone who sends anything to her will ever see it again. Round Robins can be great===but when there is not good communication and members who do not participate it can become a very stressful - not so fun project.

Cjoyce - Alikat110 stepped in at the last moment for paperpieceme. I will send her a PM and check to make sure everything is still a go.

I am contacting the other 2 members tonight and will do my best to get an answer to the situation ASAP.

I'm not shy - just incredibly busy. I also had an accident which put my sewing time on hold. But my block is finished and ready. I also have received c joyce's block (pm'd). I will try to post pictures of both today- if my dinosaur of a laptop will cooperate. I love round robins! Excited to start.