GracefulAnn

Hi everyone! This is my first round robin and I'm very excited. I plan to check out the archives for the old round robins (thanks maryb119). This is my orphan block that I'll be sending. Two pics included. The multiple photo shows the two fabrics I intend to send along and the small pieces at the top are sashings I had added but removed. This is a 12" block and it is hand-pieced. Can't wait to see all the photos![ATTACH=CONFIG]554870[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]554871[/ATTACH]

GracefulAnn

Beautiful. I love the reds!

givio

The comments seem to be options with border sizes, ok with one month of sewing time, extended time in case of length of mailing time, definitely no several-months of time, and no-late-just-send-as-is. The first month we can take a look at how long the mailing time is with our international participants letting us know when they get their blocks. We can figure out how much time might be needed after that. Let's decide definitely that there will be no compromise about being on time to mail. All must mail on the week that I'll list to mail. If life gets in the way, or you can't get to the post office, ask someone to help you out-- get the quilt top in the mail without your border if that's the case. (If that happens, the person you mail to will do the border you were supposed to finish, etc, and the top will come back to the owner of the center a smaller size.)
Kassaundra and oldcatlady, As you know that today is the deadline, please review everyone's comments, decide for sure if you want to join, then confirm that by sending me a private message. If I don't hear from you before 12:00pm eastern standard time, I'll assume that you will sit this one out.

b.zang

This is going to be my instructions with my center as I think expanding centers are more esthetically pleasing. They "grow" the quilt.
Givio, I think the amount of time for the outer rows will be the same as if everyone does a 6" border, as the center being added to won't be quite so big, so a smaller perimeter.

maryb119

Sounds good to me. Please let me know where and when to mail.

givio

GracefulAnn, That's a great center. I like how it already has a feeling of borders added, like TRT's red center seems too.

GracefulAnn

Thanks Givio. I swear it lays flat!

givio

GA, Sure it does! :-) I'm really pleased with the hand work. That's so special.

givio

Group of the first five people that signed up =
Givio mails to Ripped On Scotch
Ripped On Scotch mails to maryb119
Maryb119 mails to Vovoa
Vovoa mails to TwinRiverFarm
TwinRiverFarm mails to givio.

Group of the second five people that signed up =
frustrated quilter40 mails to Lv2sew2011
Lv2sew2011 mails to mim
Mim mails to GracefulAnn
GracefulAnn mails to b.zang
b.zang mails to frustratedquilter40.

Mail your 12” center block, your simple and limited instructions (or no instructions), and any fabric to be included (or no fabric) the first week of August. (It means the postmark on your package must be before August 7). It might be good to use a trackable method of mailing. You could tell your recipient the tracking number by private message.

Everybody can write the date they mail their package on the front of the package, maybe lower left (in case the post mark is not clear). We can mention by posting on the thread when we receive the package and how many days it took to get to us. This will give us an idea of the average mailing time that we need. When everyone has their package (probably the international packages will arrive last), from that date we will sew for the allotted number of weeks, and then mail during the next week.

For the first round we will sew for 3 weeks, and then mail during the next week. It will result in the quilt top being 24” (24 ˝” raw edge to raw edge). You can do whichever you like—a straight border, or put the center on point by adding four triangles around it. Measure the top edge of the quilt top, the center of it, and the bottom edge horizontally. Repeat measuring vertically. We want everyone to get the correct size, and the quilt top should be flat.

If we all sew the quilt top to the same size each round, then we will all be getting and giving the same. It doesn’t seem fair for anyone to work to sew a lot on the quilt tops of the others in the group, and then end up receiving something smaller! So, lets all sew to the correct size posted.

The second round will be similar to the first-- straight borders, or on point, whichever each person chooses to sew is fine. The center block can be turned once, or twice, or not at all. The end result of the second round will be 36” (36 ˝” raw). For this round we will sew for 4 weeks, and then mail during the next week.

The third round we’ll think about as we go through the first two rounds, and decide together for size and number of weeks to sew. I'll just post them after listening to your input. After the first round, I’ve added a week of time for the second round. After the first two rounds, we might have a better idea about our schedules/commitments, and how long it took us to do each of the first two rounds. I don’t want to make a list of how much time for the later rounds now, then end up with us sitting around twiddling our thumbs later.

The same for the fourth and fifth rounds-- we can decide after we get closer to making them.

I’m game for the rounds being more than 6” each, because with five people in each group the quilt top ends up 60” when using only 6” borders. But let’s try to keep the total size of the quilt top under 80”. Any larger than that can be very difficult to quilt when using a domestic sewing machine-- and that might be how someone is planning to quilt it. Well! Even with 80” I will struggle on my machine! :-)

Sending private messages now with addresses....

b.zang

Here's my top. The picture doesn't show the colours as they really are, nor does it let you see the reflective value of some fabrics. I had a circus in my mind when I chose this pattern. I also wanted something with lots of colour choices for those of you adding to it. I guess, you can also see that it's slightly larger than 12". I hope this doesn't cause problems, and if the next person wants to make a smaller border to bring the size into line with the instructions, that's perfectly fine with me.