My little Round Robins

I have previously blogged about my 4 little wall quilts. See the side panel "Cotton Robin". 

They usually hang (mounted with magnets) in that corner next to my bed but this is how it looks at the moment:

My favorite quilt group The County School Quilters (meet monthly in Montpelier) had agreed to a quilt exhibition at the brand-new Hanover Museum of History & Culture. Of course members where asked to participate and lend something they had made I offered my 4 little 'Round Robins' and the curator really wanted them. 

Of course I wanted to see the exhibition and suggested to James the outing. It is about a thirty minute drive each way and as we both had cabin fever we were soon on our way. Besides he could try out his new car, ha-ha.

We did not know what a historic place this little town was. The new museum was just established last August in the historic courthouse because the County is celebrating the 300 year anniversary. We had never been in Hanover and had not realized how much history there is.

We were very impressed with the museum and the exhibition. Of course I have seen many of my quilting friends' works at the meetings but we were the only visitors and could take our time. Such incredible work. And here are only a few photos.

Of course I have more photos but here are those of my 'minis'.

Some more eye candy. The exhibition was so well done.

Another of the historic buildings across the green. There were signs were we could read about some of the history and we had a good time. Glad we went. 

 I felt so inspired but unfortunately right now I have other things I need to do. Sigh.

Cotton Robin Reveal!

Finally I can show the photos. This is my 4th year to participate in the Cotton Robin. I have to wait until the BIG REVEAL on that site before I can upload mine. 
But first, do take a look at all the starting centers!

My Center

It would be perfectly acceptable to just use an orphan block but I have too much fun with this. I saw this pattern on a website and bought it. I am not buying patterns often but I could not resist. The center is supposed to be about 9 x 9 or 8 x 10 inches. 

It was supposed to arrive at the next person before February 28.

It was a paper piecing job. Only the second time for me to use this technique. Here the back side.

I texted the photo to Helen and she texted this photo back. "Looks just like June!!!" Helen has 6 chickens which are laying very nice eggs for her. We call them "the ladies".

I mailed my center to Allison in TX on February 21.

Center with one border

Next day I received the center block from Glen in Louisiana. I had to put it up on my design wall and contemplate what to do. She put a lot of work into it. Don't want to spoil it for her.

Laurina, the organizer, said that the borders don't have to be equally all around. The borders could be on only two sides for example. She encouraged us to be creative. So, here is what I did. 

I packed it up and posted that I was mailing it the next day but was told that I should wait a little because I was too early. Nobody should be overwhelmed ... if one projects arrived late and the next early you could have two at the same time. Finally mailed on March 19 to Traceyann in Canada.

Center with two borders

The next center with one border arrived Monday April 8 from Marie in New Hampshire. I put it on the design wall to ponder what to do. A lot going on in this block.

It was a difficult decision but I decided to do more trees. For another project years ago I had made this sample but it was too big so I made another drawing (on the right).

I ran out of some of the material. I also thought it needed something in the top right corner so I made the sun. I read that the owner had received her little quilt and was really happy about it.

Layering, quilting and binding 

When I got this one with two borders I had no idea what to do. I am not really a "modern" quilter. I didn't even know what was up or left and right. 

I decided that it needed quilting which calmed the design and pulled everything together. I always wanted to try this quilting with a walking foot. I was very happy about the result.

Since we were leaving on our 5 week trip at the end of May I had to be finished before the deadline which was June 13. The owner of this little quilt lives near London, England. I emailed her to ask whether she wanted me to mail it from the USA or from Germany or from Scotland or from England when I was in those places. She said she would rather wait instead of risking that it gets lost in the mail. Yes, we had some errant mail this year within this group. I finally mailed it from Germany. It arrived soon and she loved it. She said she could not decide herself which way was up either and there was a family vote.

And with everything done now all we have to do is wait for all the little quilts to arrive at their homes. I found this on the Cotton Robin side. Well done!

My chicken has come home to roost.

When we came home from our trip on July 5 my little quilt was waiting for me. It is a bit on the colorful side but we both really like it. And it is already mounted on its place with 2016 (Dresden plate), 2017 (bird) and 2018 (elephant).

And finally...

Everybody has received their little quilt and Laurina, the organizer, has posted THE BIG REVEAL. 

The Cotton Robin Big Reveal

Finally! You find the BIG REVEAL here on the Cotton Robin blog.

This is my center which I mailed to Julie the organizer in January. I included a button for the eye but of course did not sew it on (as the instructions said).

In March came a center to put a first border around. There was a note from the owner saying that she would preferred it to be 'on point'.

I decided to do that right away. It was on my design wall for quite a while ... trying out different things. I didn't like anything.

This is what I came up with. I mailed it to Diana in England who put the perfect 2nd border around. I just love the finished little quilt a lot.

May - this needs its second border. What am I going to do?

After a lot of thinking and rethinking! Tish then took it a step further when she quilted it. I like what she did too.

This is the 4th step. The one for me to quilt and finish. That part is for me the hardest. 

I started with drawing chalk lines and sewed some straight 'rays' from the sun. The chalk thing is something I bought in spring at the Hampton quilt show. You iron the lines away. After I have read so much about this marker and that marker ... disappearing to early ... or reappearing when you don't want it ... I am totally confused about marking.

I borrowed a ruler foot and templates from Becky and after some trying out used them for straight lines first and circles. I really liked the results. Better then I could have done it free-hand.

And I learned another new thing when I had done research on techniques. I have two kinds of self-threading needles (which I think are must-haves). One should not take the side-threading one to sew away threads in quilts. The needle could get hooked in the batting.

Done! Here is the back.

And the front.

Now all I have to do is wait for mine! 

And it has arrived!

And 2018 has already joined the little Cotton Robins from 2016 and 2017.

That was a lot of fun. Thank you, Julie. I hope we will do it again next year!

Cotton Robin and other things

Got my Cotton Robin center done. It's going to be in the mail soon. Fun! Gosh, it's difficult not to show a photo of it since it is supposed to be a secret. You still can sign up to participate. Click on the LABEL on the right if you want to read more about my previous posts about it.

In the meantime I made these two hearts. Little projects. I am sorting out my files in my computer and in paper. Trying to decide what patterns to keep. These are Danish Woven Hearts, traditionally made with red and white paper.

When we were in Israel in September, we visited Nazareth Village and I was very interested to talk to a spinner/weaver. Here is the LINK to the blog. She had a bowl with different colored balls of wool and the natural material she had used to dye it. The dried peel of pomegranate stuck into my memory.

I peeled 3 or 4 pomegranates and let the peel dry forever ... until the pot kept getting into the way and it was time to try the dying. I had been told that the peel has to be dried first, then it had to be cooked. 

After it had cooled I strained it and soaked some pieces of white fabric. Let it soak for a long time.

I rinsed the pieces and put them into the dryer, and ironed them. I expected the color to be more intense and red, not yellow. The second photo shows the color more true. The brown spots on the fabric happened because I should have used a coffee filter instead of the sieve which was too corse. My first ever dyeing attempt.

I think dyeing is not my thing. It's easier to just buy gorgeous fabric (smile).

The Cotton Robin Big Reveal

Finally! You find the BIG REVEAL here on the Cotton Robin blog.

This is my center which I mailed to Julie the organizer in January.

Then in February I received somebody else's center to put the first border around. I had it on my design wall for quite a while ... trying to figure out what to do. But it kept reminding me of the boomer/boomerette blocks we had done for Block Lotto in 2013. And that is what I did. I hope the recipient likes it. 

March

Got a center with the first border to make the second border. I really liked it and enjoyed working on it. 

May

Got a center with two borders ready to layer, quilt and finish it. I did some machine quilting but also tried hand quilting with decorative thread. It was a challenge but fun too. 

And when I came back from Europe there was a large envelope on top of that pile of mail.  My little quilt. I love it. It is already hanging keeping last year's cotton robin company. 

Great big THANK YOU to Liz in South Carolina, Nan in Oregon and Mary in Louisiana who all did a very nice job. And also to Julie for letting me play and working hard on this so we all have fun. 

Looking forward to next year!