Traveling Quilts Roundup

Over the past eight months I was lucky enough to participate in a spin off group that came from the Old Red Barn Quilt Along group.  A lot of the really good friends I have made in this online community are from that group.  I don't think Dana had any idea how big it would become or how many amazing friendships would be formed through the group when she first started that original quilt along but there have been many a quilt made through that group and many a friendship as well.

For the last round I had Dee's quilt.  Now I was lucky enough to get to meet Dee in person a few years back so I knew I wanted to do something really special for her quilt.  I pondered and pondered and in the end I decided a tribute of sorts to the very first Old Red Barn Quilt would be a nice touch.  So I added a modified rail fence boarder.  Dee's only request was that we pick one color for her starting square to use as the focus.  There were lots of great colors in there but I decided to focus on the plums and mustard's.  It seemed to me like they would help ground the quilt after all of the white space Nichole used in her round.  I have to say I am so in love with the color scheme that I plan to sew my quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids from the same pretty colors.  I think it is girly with a side of sophistication and hope that maybe a little older girl will appreciate it.

Here is a look back at the other quilts I had the chance to work on.

Finally my quilt top is finished and will hopefully be on the way home soon.  I started off with the smallest center of just a 12 inch block but my top has grown into a massive queen size quilt.  My only request was a orange, blue, and gray color story.  Dee had my quilt first and started off by adding those amazing spools.  They popped up several times and it's so exciting to see how well they all work together and the cohesiveness they bring to the top as a whole.  I already have a plan for the back and then this one will be going to the long arm to be quilted.  Hopefully I'll have it finished by the end of 2012 and it won't get sucked into the WIP vortex.  

Traveling Quilts

This year I am only participating in one group activity over on Flickr.  A group from the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Fame broke off into small groups to make traveling quilts.  I of course had to join in.  I knew this year was going to be busy and crazy and annoyingly painful but I learn a lot from my friends in blogland and I couldn't imagine not having any group interaction.  So while I thought I was being smart just joining in one group it turns out I am still running behind but thankfully they still tolerate and put up with me.

Christine's Quilt Top

When I first got Christine's quilt top I was determined to get started right away and get this one out on time.  So I started working on a friendship braid.  Well when that turned out to be an epic fail I was at a loss as to where to go next.  I didn't know what I wanted to do and I was out of ideas.  I think sometimes that is the hardest part about bees and groups like this.  We put so much pressure on ourselves to make something AMAZING that sometimes we miss out on the need for something simple.  I was feeling the time crunch and I knew I had to have these two tops in the mail on Monday because I had promised.

Close up of the stacked logs.

I had been so inspired by this quilt, in fact it was the reason I joined this group.  So I did a little digging and found that the quilt was actually based on a quilt along.  So I spent some time really looking at the quilt along and the different layers.  In the end I decided to do the stacked logs.  I had lots of strips already cut for the friendship braid that hadn't worked and I didn't want to waste them so I added to that and made a border of stacked logs.  I used pinks, purples, and yellows to go along with the colors of the flowers in the original center of this quilt and then threw in some greens as well.  Mostly because I don't have any purple in my stash and the pieces you see are ones I bought specifically for this quilt from a local quilt store along with some my mom brought me last time I was searching for purple.  It really is hard to find good purples so if anyone know of any I would love it if you would share the names so I can add to my collection.  This quilt is rather large already as it is now measuring 60" by 60" and it still has a few rounds to go.  I did send along some yellow pieces in case Dee wants to put another solid border between our two rounds.

Pam's Quilt Top.  Amazing!

Next up was Pam's quilt top.  I really love the way this top is coming together but I was also extremely intimidated by it.  Well after looking at it one thing I really liked was the organic feeling the top had.  The middle is a little wonky but not in a sharp angled way but more of a gentle curve.  The fabrics in the middle also move from green to blue.  I'm sure these are probably pieces of batiks but it really smacked me across the face.  The other thing I noticed right away was that Pam had mentioned she wanted this to be a wall hanging and well again it's so large already I knew I wanted my round to be small.  I had this idea to do a pinstripe.  Of course my stubborn self immediately ruled that out as it was too simple of a concept.  But after that nothing I tried seemed right and in the end I knew the pinstripe in all of its simplistic nature was the right way to go.  So I added a pinstripe of color that transitions from lime green into orange and then into aqua.  And a black border that is actually a tone on tone print.  There are various stripes in the black fabric as well.  Over all I love what this simple addition does for this quilt top.

Close up of my pinstripe

Here is a shot of what my quilt top looked like the last time I saw an update on it.  I only asked for a aqua, orange, and gray color scheme.  I think it is progressing beautifully.

The last updated photo of my quilt top.  I can't wait for this one to come home!

PS-Sorry for the bad indoor photos but it was late when I finished these and like I said I had to pack them up to get them in the mail.