Happy New Year Y'all!! Here we are with our own thread. I think we should take this opportunity to introduce ourselves to each other since I'm sure we will be doing a lot of communicating over the next few months.

I'm a 60-yr-old grandmother to three beautiful girls. I have two grown daughters -- the oldest is 30, mother to my grandbabies (8 and 5 years, 7 months). My other daughter is 24 and is engaged to be married this April. They both live in the Houston area. My husband and I live in Louisiana, in a house in sort of a woods (what's left after Hurricane Rita a few years back) on the bank of the Calcasieu River. It's not a particularly pretty river by us (narrow with seasonal cabins across from us), but some areas take you back to primitive times when the Cajuns were coming down from Canada and settled the area. It's surrounded by cypress, moss, herons, pelicans, palms, turtles, and (alas) gators and snakes. I've been sewing all my life, but have only been quilting for the last 10 or 12 years. I quilt for enjoyment, meaning I like instant gratification. My quilts are not "heirloom" quilts -- they are curl-up-in-front-of-the-TV-with-the-dog quilts. When I do part with one, it comes with the warning that I better not see it in the bed of the pickup. I collect and hoard fabric and patterns shamelessly. I spend far too much time on the computer with "The Board" and drooling over quilt patterns and fabric websites. Lake Charles is sort of a small city, and I live in an unincorporated area (meaning we don't have our own police, pay our own trash pickup, don't get to vote in city matters that somehow still apply to us, etc.) It's an area that used to be dominated with chemical plants (almost all gone now) and oil refineries (also hurting, and you know why) and now gambling casinos. I guess you could call us a "resort" area. We're about half hour from the gulf, two hours from Baton Rouge, and two hours from Houston. Husband took an early retirement (lucky me) and has devoted his time to proving to the world that he is a triathlete -- and he is. He has competed in many competitions and won his age group several times. This spring he will go to compete in the "Escape from Alcatraz", then to Beijing, China to represent the US in an international competition there, and to Kona in the fall to compete in the Hawaiian Ironman (he qualified by winning his age group in the Panama City Iron Man this past November. For those who don't know what an Iron Man is, it's a 2.2 mile swim in open water followed by a 112 mile bicycle course followed by a 26 mile run. Yes, it is insane. My thoughts are that if God meant us to do that, he'd have given us four legs, gills, and a sprocket.) Though I will admit I am proud of him, we are running out of space for all his trophies and t-shirts and I still cringe when he dons his Speedo. While he's out training, I'm usually home with my 5 dogs (all rescues, none acquired intentionally). I gave up housekeeping, and have devoted myself to my own brand of retirement, doing what I want and when I want. So far things haven't gone bad enough that I can't find my sewing machine, but finding a particular piece of fabric may be a problem.

But enough about me -- how about y'all?

Oh my goodness you are going to be BUSY with your daughter's wedding this Spring! I will enjoy seeing your preperations! Congrats to your husband on his accomplishments! I do know about Ironman as we have one here in the Louisville area and the bikers ride right by the house :D
So....I am 45 years old and mom to 3. My oldest is my 24 year old stepdaughter who lives in Texas. She graduated from University of Texas in '09 and LOVES Austin. My son is 20 and is in his 2nd year at Murray State University here in KY majoring in Music Education; he plays trumpet. My "baby" girl will be 18 in February and will graduate from High School this year and then will be off to the University of Kentucky :( So...come June, I will be an empty nester :( I started quilting this past July when my father passed away as a way to fill the time that had been spent caring for him. I lost my mom about 3 weeks ago so 2010 was NOT a great year for me. Thankfully, quilting and the folks on this board have been a huge comfort for me.
Now...on the fun stuff! I am super excited about this Row Robin!! I really think it is going to be SUPER fun!! My theme is "Spring". I'm hoping it will be filled with flowers, bees, butterflys, birds, birdhouses, ladies in bonnets, or whatever makes you think of Spring. For newbies like me, plane ole blocks in Spring colors are great.
I guess we need to think of a name for our litte Group #6. Hmmmm.....there are 5 of us in the group....Nancy in Louisiana, FQ Stash Queen, TF Quilter, Pamesue and me Qbee. I tried to come up with something with our names but couldn't think of anything...N L F T P Q...."Nice Ladies Finish their Pieces Quick"...LOL :D Bit too long. Here are a couple of ideas that came to me but ya'll will surely come up with something much more fun:
"Sassy Six"
"Six Easy Pieces"
I guess that's all I got for now :D Let the fun begin!

sounds like fun

Well, I am excited to be in this group...

I am a 52 year Mom of 2. My daughter is 21(22 in Feb) and attending Nursing school, my son is 20 (21 in Mar) and attending school for computer animation. I also have 2 stepchildred Sherri (33) who gave us 2 beautiful grandsons (Tyler and Gavin) and Rob (36). I have been married for 24 years, but my DH and I have been together for 30 years. He retired about 3 years ago from Ford Motor Company (36 years) and works part time for the American Legion Post. I work for a large inter-city hospital (20 years). We live south of the Motor City and have for the many years.

Now I have been quilting for about 15 years. It took my friend 2years to convince me to make a quilt, I did not want too! Finally I agreed to make 1 quilt and 1 quilt only! Well never mind you know how that ended. I am so addicted to the craft that it is embarassing. I also do machine embroidery and donate alot to "quilts for comfort" which is a group that was formed on an embroidery web site and now has it's own yahoo group. This christmas I made quilts for 8 of my family members. I love to make things for other people, but I am careful who I make them for, not everyone likes homemade gifts.

So that sums it up on me..My theme is brown and pinks and this will be for me...yeah!!

as for a name for our group....I am easy, call us whatever ...I am just happy to be in the group.

Pam

So we just need to hear from FQ Stash Queen and TF Quilter! Time to get this group named and going! :D
Happy New Year Group 6 partners!!

Yes -- Happy New Year to All!!!As soon as we hear from FQ and TF, we'll get going with a little more definition as to what we all want or don't want or envision ... vague themes like "garden" or "scrappy" leave a lot of room for interpretation, and I don't want anyone to be disappointed. I suppose once we all get our first row done and photographed and posted, that should take care of a lot of questions. By the way, does anyone have any problems with posting pictures??

Hi Group 6:

I am so excited to be part of this group..sorry I didn't get on top of this sooner, I have pleurisy, but am on the mend. My husband and I are retired and live in Idaho. We have raised 6 children of which includes 2 granddaughters, which we adopted. I love quilting, sewing, hand work, making jewelry...I think we are all going to have so much fun getting to know each other. Nancy, thankyou for "being in charge." I think there were suggestions being made for a group name, how about Traveling Threads...Sew On and Sew Forth, Quilts Around Goes Around, Quilting to Know You...I don't know, just something to think about. My theme is Girls/Ladies, Past or Present...I am working on my row...will be done soon and then will post pictures. Nancy, can we include a small notebook/journal for each person to write in as they work on my row; a label for everyone to sign their name or am I jumping ahead...anyway, I am excited to belong to Group 6... :thumbup: HAPPY NEW YEAR..

I LOVE "QUILTING TO KNOW YOU"!!! All your suggestions are very clever, but that one is my favorite. And your idea of a notebook is a good one. I would like to be able to include pictures in the journals so that at the end we could consolidate them somehow and distribute. I don't know how to work it out, exactly, but I'm sure it can be done. Great idea. It would be like a "slice of life" diary from each of our different states. Open for suggestions, ladies ....

I love the idea of a notebook or journal! I have already sent a PM to another board member about hopefully making me a label...I'm SO excited! I SOOO want an embroidary machine someday so I can make my own labels and stuff :(
I too LOVE the sound of "Quilting to know you" :) It caught my attention the minute I read it!
I have started drawing my row out but can't decide for sure partially because I want things that I don't even know how to do! LOL!! So excited to be in this group! :D

"Quilting to know you" is my choice as well...luv it.

I am open to a journal..

I have made 3 of my blocks so far, working on the 4th. Actually I would like to add sashing to my blocks, would you ladies be okay adding sashing to the blocks that you make me? I will send the sashing to each person individual. You would be able to use the sashing as a method to square up the block if need be....so what do you think?

I have no problems with adding the sashing -- a great way of making the quilt bigger.

Still waiting to hear from FQ Stash Queen. I'm sure she's just still caught up in the holidays.

I have no problem adding sashing...I think I like Quilting to Know You the best too..kind of fits what we're doing huh...the first Round Robin I did many years ago, we did little notebooks/journal...I still have it & it's neat to read and remember the thoughts of each person that worked on my quilt...:) Elaine

This is so much fun...I'm glad u like Quilting to Know You...fits what we are doing...:) I have been working like mad to finish my blocks...this issss going to be fun ladies...glad to be in Group 6...:)

Thankyou...I like Quilting to Know You the best too...pictures would be great too...I really like the idea of consolidating all of our pictures somehow and we could all have a copy, like a Group 6 album sort of thing for each one of us...good idea...I am really excited and this will be so much fun..what really helps too is the fact that we have nearly 2 mos to work on each row..

:thumbup:

Woo-hoo!! This is getting SO exciting!! I am totally up for sashing! I was planning to send sashing as well. I was just going to do a really LONG row of it; enough for everyone I guess....or I guess I could do like 65 inch rows...don't know...we can figure that out when FQ Stash Queen joins us! I copied the dates to paste on our page so I wouldn't have to keep going back to find them :D Here they are:

Mailing Dates
________________________________________________

You have two months to get each round done.

1st Row – mail by February 15th

________________________________________________

Row 2 – April 15th

________________________________________________

Row 3 – June 15th

________________________________________________

Row 4 – August 15th

________________________________________________

Row 5 – October 15th

Thankyou...what a good idea....I believe in our mailing order, you will mail to me...I will mail to Pamesue...etc..

I now have my 4th block done and will make #5 today.

I will enclude a list of the fabric that I used and if anyone wants to use some of the fabrics I used then they will know the name/maker of them. I really am enjoying the blocks I've make and hope to post a pic this afternoon.

I have never done a row robin but looking forward to getting each of the rows and adding to them.

yeah...we are off and running 8-)

Can't wait to see your blocks...Yea...:)

Ok, my row is done...I think it turned out sew cute! I hope this pic is okay and you can see the blocks. I used the same fabric for the background in all 5 blocks.

Just dropped to see how it was going here! I'm nosy. LOL!
pamasue your row is sew pretty!

Hi Nancy! Happy New Year!

Love your row...nice colors...

:thumbup:

Wow Pam.....I LOVE your row and can't believe you are already done!! You go girl!!
OK...I have been snooping around the early bird pages for ideas, etc. and found a couple of really cool ideas.
1st...we already thought of this but they are using the journals to tell about where they are from, pictures of their area, home, family, etc., thoughts about the rows, etc. so I think the journals will be lots of fun.
2nd...most are sending a "LABEL" which will basically have room for each member of the group to sign the label...Now...here is the new part that I loved and thought would be really cool. A couple of the groups are doing "signature blocks" to go along with their row. I really LOVE this idea because I think it would be so neat to have a row of signature blocks on the back. For example, your signature block could have your QB Screen Name, real name, state you are from, state flower, little note, whatever! For mine...it would be neat if I can figure out how to put a bumble bee for my Screen name of "Qbee" which stands for "quilting bee" and some KY flowers and bird or whatever....or it could be as simple as a block with my name(s) and signature. I just thought it was something neat to thing about. I would make 5 of the signature blocks, keep one for myself and send the other 4 with the fabric. Each person would take one of the blocks when they got my row. Ya'll let me know what you think!!
Also, has anyone heard from FQ Stash Queen ??

I like your idea of the signature blocks...or if someone doesn't want to make 5 blks, then they could make just one and have everyone sign it...that would be fun...:)

I haven't heard from FQ StshQun either -- maybe I should check up on whether she's posted anywhere lately. Technically it's still sort of holiday, so she may be tied up with family, travel, etc.

I really like the idea of the signature blocks. Do you mean for them to take the place of the label? We could do a block that would somehow reflect on each of us as an individual (ie. Qbee's bees, some Louisiana-themed for me). If we made them all the same size (not necessarily 12", but 12" would be good)they would really look great as a row across the back. Good thinking.

As far as journal goes, see my post in the main thread.

Ouch -- just had a thought. If everyone sent a picture of themselves (maybe with finished quilts? or holding up their first row), I can put them together in a collage and either print them out on fabric, or at least on paper to enter into our journals or sew into the back with the signature rows.

Our swap is definitely going to be the best.

And maybe we should just let majority rule here and declare ourselves "Quilting to KNow You" -- it ties in with our label/signature block and journal ideas.

Now, if I could only log off this dumb computer and find my way past the clutter to the sewing room ... I think I remember were it is ...

Absolutely the best..Nancy, I see where FQ Stash Queen posted January 3rd pictures of her 2007 BOM quilt...just for your info...

:thumbup:

I agree...I think majority rules..:)

I agree to just go with "Quilting to Know You"....I'm betting that FQ Stash Queen won't mind :D
And I LOVE the idea of the "collage" pictures!!!
How cool would that be on the back of the quilt!
Oh my gosh...this is going to be SOOO cool!!

I love all of the ideas...

I am in for the journal, the name, the label and the picture..but I would like the pictures in the journal.

So, I will start looking for a cool journal and thinking about what to put on my label...

yeah.....how exciting!!

Great Pam! I'm SOOO excited :D So how bout this idea:

With each row we will send:
The Row with or without the stashing needed for ALL rows
A cool journal that everyone will put thoughts, pictures, etc.
A Label that will only need to be signed by each person. The label will be designed by the person. Like I'd like to make mine match my row/theme and be like titled at the top with "Quilting to Know You" and then "Row Robin 2011" and then lines for everyone to sign and put their screen name.
Then...I would love it if I could send 4 blocks for everyone to sign..put something on, whatever so I can make a row on the back of the blocks :)
I still have to figure out my row! I so want to put a bumble bee in the middle with my name "Qbee" but am not sure I have the skills for that :( Hmmm...have to figure it out pretty quickly.

So, let me get this right:

1. Row of blocks plus whatever sashing

2. Small journal to be filled in as the next row is worked on, pictures welcome (could probably be printed on regular paper direct from computer, couldn't they? Not necessary to buy prints.)

3. Quilt-owner's big label -- description of project with four lines for signature only -- real and board names, location.

4. And then I'm a little fuzzy about the 4th item --

Couldn't we combine 3 & 4 -- each person can make a 12 1/2 inch block, maybe out of muslin trimmed or framed in with some of the fabric they used on your blocks (or a small block motive on edges) and leave a big space in middle for their names, dates, home town and state, and any other very short comment they want to make. A plain muslin 12 1/2" block can be made by the quilt owner stating the name of the swap and date range -- combined with the other four blocks would make a complete row across the back. Do I make any sense at all?

1- ok
2 - ok to print picture on paper
3 - ??? I make one 12 1/2 block with muslin with name of group etc. then have space in the center left open for names and signatures, then you guys will make a 12 1/2" block with info about you to add to my block for a label row in the back.....is that correct???

It is totally fine if ya'll don't want to do both #3 and #4 but is there anyway ya'll could sign a label for me? Here's why....I got SOOO excited about the Round Robin that I contacted someone to embroidary a label for me...LOL. I had seen the labels that folks were putting on their "Row Robins" and "Round Robins" and knew I wanted one. Here was my inspiration (loook right under the butterfly blocks):
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-59706-3.htm
It will be just a small label with 2 columns though so you can sign your real name and screen name...not even 12" square.
Anyway...then the other night...another group was talking about doing an actualy block for each person to keep that would be like your own little "signature" block with maybe fabric that they used, their name or whatever and I loved the idea of lining them up in a row for the back. See this is what happens when you have a newbie in your group...LOL..we just get TOO excited!!
Also, have we heard from our 5th? :D You want me to PM her?

I sent a pm to FQ Stash Queen. It seems that she and her husband live mostly on the road in their RV, so that may be the delay in her responding. I asked that she look us up here as soon as she can. I hope she stays in one place long enough to play.

I will do whatever everyone wants to do...I just need to be clear on what that is...

So...Qbee...are you wanting us to do a quilt block for the back and a signature label??? or a quilt block for the back and you supply the signature label...I'm confused...

A quilt block for the back and then I would also like to send a sig label for everyone to sign since I already "ordered" it. :D

Ok, I can do that ...that won't be a problem for me...

I will get busy with my quilt label...I will do an embroidery one with signature lines as well...but first I need to use Bubble jet on the fabric so the signatures wont get washed away..(I will do that before I do the embroidery)

FQ Stash Queen -- WHERE ARE YOU???

Need to get serious and work on my blocks this weekend. Time is flying by. I'm going to be "out of it" Jan 16 thru 22 -- going on a cruise with some friends from our very little sewing group.

How fun to go on a cruise...:)...I am almost finished with my row, and then hopefully tomorrow will post pictures....

I'm not in this activity but WHERE are your pictures?