finished top & round robins

Lois' embroidered blocks in Picture Frame set---rows joined yesterday afternoon about 4:30. I mention the time only because you can see who followed DJ and I back out to the living room. Pippi was sure that I was headed out the kitchen to start supper and let me know she was available if there were any handouts to be had, LOL. She rarely ever gets any--a bit of turkey breast and a teeny bit of fish recently, though after it was cooked, not withstanding. Hope springs eternal.

You also see the ubitiquous TV, plant stand and the coffee table I did not crop out this time --even the dog door stop is not quite hidden. The coffee table and one side of the loveseat cushions are like my husband's office--or his little nest, as I call it. When he is not outside doing whatever, or in bed sleeping, he is in the living room with all his toys. Me? Mostly in my computer/sewing room with MY toys, of course.

I was messing around with my camera settings and may need to adjust them back to where they were as you cannot see the embroidered detail as well as I had hoped. There will be black binding on the quilt--not sure what is making the two sides look like there is something on there already--maybe afternoon shadows? There are 12 more 8 x 8 finished embroidered blocks to work with. I may try some big hour glass blocks between them but would need to see if Lois has a few more if I do that. Let's just say that is more in the "thinking" stage at this point. I'll entertain other suggestions though.

Definitely stashbusting going on with this quilt. Muslin, a good bit was from backing cutaways or recycled from other projects. Some of the brights were used in that Snuggle up you see on the left hand side of the church pew shots in the previous post. The black is leftover from my Kitty City quilt. I'm using a piece of tealish lacy looking tone on tone Benartex St. Nicole that Finn sent for a "fun" back. It was not quite wide enough for this oversized top but I wanted to use it if I could. I dug around in my teal/aqua/ greenish basket and there was a piece of Ozark Mountain calico that was close in color just the right width to split in half and sew end to end for the needed extra inches. Not sure where that came from--probably my mom.

On meeting day Pat lent me her Reber and Sindelar's Beautiful Borders, Backings and Bindings and I have been reviewing the reference books I have mulling over what I might try on that round robin. Pat had Aline's piece with her so I got to see how hers was coming. (Aline was not there.) Having missed the pass off meeting, others have had to fill me in. I've got a few ideas and was told I have till the middle of July to get it done though I don't want to procrastinate it too long.

Interesting thought in Martin and McCloskey's Pieced Borders: The Complete Resource about using a length of adding machine tape. You mark the ends and then fold it matching up the ends to find the center, then quarters, eighths and on down to get it down to unit size. I may try that just to see how it works. Janet Kime's The Border Workbook had some good ideas too but the math part was making my head swim--late at night and not firing on all cyclinders did not help. I will revisit all this in coming weeks. Meanwhile I will let the ideas percolate as it hangs off the shelving unit.

My tale of woe: I am a little afraid for the plight of my section right now. Not only is the next participant moving out of state next month--a recipe for losing or misplacing them OR not returning the subsequent rounds in a timely manner-- but I know she has cut off the points of a row of Aline's carefully pieced friendship stars on one round when she added her row. Cutting off points is not doing your best piecing. The worst was the report that she used paint!!! (at first thought to be magic marker or Sharpie pen) on the applique round. Wouldn't you be scared too? To be fair, she is a relatively new quilter but paint on Gary's quilt? Pigma pen, maybe. I guess if no one specifically said "don't use paint or magic marker" it must be okay? We should have known she was going to follow her own muse rather than the rules when her center square was a rectangle.

Don't get me wrong--free expression is not a bad thing. Normally it should be encouraged because many beautiful things result from that free thinking. Go for it! The round robin format, not so sure--someone else has to follow you and deal with the aftermath of your non-conformity. Even I'm chafing at some of the seemingly arbitrary rules-- the width particularly. Seeing that others are not following the rules, how much do you think I am going to worry that mine might wind up 4.5 finished instead of 4??? How much am I going to want to do stars and/or log cabins at a finished 4 inch when I want to do neither that size?

Gary had a volunteer to fill in the remaining rounds when it was announced that the group participant would be moving along with Mama in June. Mama insists that daughter wants to keep going--not sure if anyone really talked to the daughter to see what SHE wanted to do. As it is, Gary said he would personally pay the postage there and back to Virginia so she could keep on. Bad, bad vibes but I may be happily surprised in the end. I hope so. Again, I was not there when what to do was discussed by the group though I gave him my opinion on the phone prior to the meeting.

Enough complaining and worrying about that! Need to start up the laundry and get set up for quilting. The other photo, not knowing where it might land on the page--Pippi keeping me company in the sewing room thankfully, not under the table but next to it.