Sneak Peek 2

And here's another Cotton Robin Sneak Peek - this one is of the quilt which I quilted and bound. I wouldn't normally work on two of them two days running, but the previous round had actually been lost in the post, and then was returned to the sender and re-sent to me, so I got it much later than I should have. Just glad it wasn't lost.

Sneak peek

These were some fabrics which might have played a part in a round for the Cotton Robin round robin. I can't show the whole thing yet, just a tiny hint. I'll show the proper round later.

Sneak Peek

Once again, I'm taking part in the Cotton Robin round robin quilt project. Once again, I can't really show what I'm doing until the end, but I can show little sneak peeks. This is a tiny bit of the block that I made as the centre for my little mini quilt. I made it black and white because the fabric is quite distinctive, so I didn't want to give it away...  More to come!

Cotton Robin, quilting

And here's the final quilt I worked on for the Cotton Robin - the one which I quilted and bound. Mostly it's a shell design, except I quilted a big leaf in the centre. 

Cotton Robin, second round

Here's the next round I worked on. The idea was to add some bushes and grass and a sun in the background, but on reflection I think the bushes look a little odd. Too late now to do anything about it, though. 

Again, the finished quilt can be seen in this post, if you scroll down.

Cotton Robin, first round

Here's another part of the Cotton Robin round robin I took part in this year - this was my turn to add a first round - I received a maker's centre block and added a round to it, then sent it to someone else for another round. 

Here's what it looked like when I finished with it.  The completed quilt can be seen here. (You'll have to scroll down, I can't link straight to the photo.)

Cotton Robin - center block/my quilt

Once again, I took part in the Cotton Robin, a quilt round robin. There are four rounds: the initial block you make, two rounds to add to an intial block, and then finally quilting and binding a quilt.  Here was the block I sent for my centre this year. 

And here's what it looked like when it finally came home to me!

Cotton Robin Sneak Peak

You won't be able to tell anything from this picture - but I worked on a second border for a round robin quilt swap. These are the offcuts when I was done!

Sneak peak

A little actual sewing - rare these days - I added a round to the centre block I received for the current Cotton Robin. I can't show the centre block, or really, anything much of what I did, so I've taken this very small, greyscale, completely unhelpful little snippet to share, just to say I've done something. I do have pictures to show once the whole thing is completed, of course. You'll just have to be patient.

A sneaky peak

I did a bit of sewing this weekend - but one thing I can't really show - a centre block for Julie's new Cotton Robin round robin. Here's a little hint, but that's really it from me. Once the round robin is over, I'll be able to show you my little quilt, plus the other three I work on, but until then, it will have to be tiny, mysterious hints.  But it still counts as sewing time, which makes a nice change!

Cotton Robin - my finished piece

Many moons ago (or a little less) I sent off a centre block to start out a quilt for the Cotton Robin round robin. One of the players had some trouble along the way, so it took a little while longer than expected for my piece to return home, but it did finally land, surprising me when it did as I'd kind of forgotten about it. It's really sweet, isn't it?  The centre block (just the bird with the pale blue background) was a block from the Block Lotto - I won a set of bird blocks a long while back. I still have quite a few. Really must do something with them...

Cotton Robin: Quilting

And this is the quilt that came to me for quilting - a very cute piece and one which it wasn't too hard to decide what to do with. Sometimes it's really tricky to decide.  I went around the sunflowers, and filled in most of the rest with a meander, though I did some spirals (ish) in the triangles. 

The other thing I did was to quilt a sunflower in the centre section, to echo the two on either side. I think it came out pretty well; hopefully the owner likes it!

Cotton Robin: Second Border

This was the second piece I worked on for the Cotton Robin round robin. I received a block which had had one round added to it (the yellow) and my task was to add another round. I went back to the red/white/blue theme and used some novelty fabric of famous American places which I had in my stash (goodness knows where it came from, but it was there). Details of the fussy cut blocks below. I had fun with this, and hope that the maker enjoys it.

Again, you can see what the finished piece looks like by looking at the Big Reveal on the round robin website. 

Cotton Robin: First Border

Once again this year, I took part in the Cotton Robin, an international Round Robin hosted by Julie in California. I sent away a centre block (more of that later) and in due course, will get a finished quilt back (mine will be a little late returning due to health problems with one of the ladies working on it; this is fine - it's only a quilt!)

We were asked not to show what we did while we worked on the round robin, but now that it's finished and the Big Reveal has been shown on the website, I can show what I did. 

So, this is the block I received in the post to work on: 

and these are the fabrics I pulled out as possible additions.   The block at the top, however, is how it looked when I finished and sent it on.  The person I sent it to would have added another round, and the final person would have quilted it. To see how it ended up, check out the Big Reveal on the Cotton Robin Blog. 

Cotton Robin, Sneak Peak

One of the very few things I've actually been sewing in the past few months is my share of the various pieces of Julie's Cotton Robin. This was the last round - the quilting round. These two tiny snips really don't show much, but do offer proof that my sewing machine is good for more than just piling mending on top of!

Another sneaky peek

Here's something related to The Cotton Robin, the round robin in which I am taking part. Not going to say or show any more than that; you will have to wonder!  I am doing a bit of sewing, but there's a lot going on that can't be shown fully...

A little sneak peek

These are some fabrics which I am considering using on my next round of the Cotton Robin.  Not sure quite yet whether I will use them or something else, but these are the ones sitting there for me to muse on.  I don't think I'll get any work done before I leave for  a week in Florida, though...

Sneaky peek

Well, today I worked on something I can't actually show (adding a round to the central block of a round robin), so I'll just show a selection of potential fabrics that I pulled out to work with. I only used a few of these in the end, so really, all you are getting is an idea of the colours I worked with.  Once the round robin is finished, I'll post photos of all the different rounds, including the block I sent and what I received in return!

Cotton Robin - the Quilting

And finally, here is the quilt which I received to quilt in the Cotton Robin round robin this year.  The original centre block was just the turtle; several people worked on the piece to add the borders. When it came to me, it was like this (but not quilt or bound). 

I choes this fabric for the back, a nice sea-ish batik, and bound it with blue and brown. 

The quilting has some little seashells, 

fish

and waves in it, as appropriate. 

This was fun to work on.  And I think the finished quilt is very effective.

Cotton Robin - Second Round Addition

Carrying on with my work on this year's Cotton Robin round robin - here's the piece to which I added a second round. Above is the piece after I've worked on it; below is what it looked like when it arrived with me. 

This one (above) is a close-up of the bits I added.  And below is what the original block looked like before anyone added to it. 

Here's the finished quilt - Personally, I think I'd hang it up the other orientation, but perhaps that's just me.