Going Round and Round: A Round Robin Quilt

Have you heard of Round Robin quilt exchanges? They’ve been in and out of popularity for years—and they’re back in vogue now! This is the ultimate in sharing and making something special for a quilt friend—with benefits to you too. I’ve heard of dozens of quilt guilds refreshing this charming group project to the delight of participants.

Here’s how they work:

A Round Robin is a group project that moves hand to hand over the course of time (usually several months or a year) between several participants. A participant creates a starter block for the first round. That block is handed off to another participant who then adds to the block (often a border but that can vary based on the group rules). Then it gets handed off to yet another participant and on and on. Each participant usually is allowed several weeks, whatever the group decides, to complete their addition. After the decided-upon number of rounds is completed (often 4–8, depending on the total number of participants), the quilt top is returned to the person who created the starter block.

Every group’s rules are slightly different but here are the basic principles of a Round Robin:

Okay, I admit that last one is not a principle at all, it is only my assumption of what you will feel based on my own reactions to the Round Robins I’ve been a part of. 

Block time:

The guild I belong to, Cambridge Modern Quilt Guild, decided to host a Round Robin. Well, truthfully, one of our members proposed doing one and she became the leader. More about her later.

I wanted to play around with a classic quilt block. I chose Churn Dash because I love it’s simple elegance. But I also wanted to zhuzh it up a bit!

I pulled out my colored pencils and started sketching. I also had transparencies in mind so I merged that thought with the Churn Dash block. Here’s my final sketch.

I made the sketch in a couple of colorways but I liked this red-blue-purple one the best. It will finish at about 18″ square.

Taking shape:

Next, I went to my stash to find the fabric for the block. I was also looking for fabric I might add to the tote bag so my quiltmates would have access to other fabrics to use in the block. More on that soon too.

I chose a solid white background and slightly mottled but solid-looking red, blue, and purple fabrics. I want the block (and quilt) to ‘read’ as solid but I also like tone-on-tone fabric along with these mottled ones that add a tiny bit of texture and interest. Hand-dyed fabric of this nature also makes me swoon. I have a few of those to tuck in the bag too.

What’s next:

In this photo, you see all of the components cut out and arranged. My deadline is not for a couple weeks so I’m letting the block ‘ferment’ on my design wall for a while. I’m happy with it, though, so it is unlikely that I will change anything about it.

Our wonderful leader, Mary, has participated in many Round Robins and provided us with a fantastic packet of information, which also included a questionnaire. Each participant—in addition to creating a starter block—also completes this questionnaire, which will travel with the quilt block, in its tote bag, along the entire journey. 

On the questionnaire, we were asked to provide information that would be helpful to our guildmates when they create subsequent rounds onto our blocks. We were encouraged to share our preferences such as favorite colors (and additional fabric, if we wanted to), taste in quilt styles and embellishments, how we hoped to use the quilt in the future (wallhanging, bed quilt, etc.), things we favored and/or disliked and so on.

Part of this experience is agreeing to work on a quilt top for someone else, following their thoughts, desires, and requests for their final quilt top. This can be challenging, to put your own needs aside to follow someone else’s vision. It’s a challenge I find exhilarating, though. I hope you have the opportunity to participate in a Round Robin quilt someday too!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Quilt on!

Kristine

Here’s a Round Robin-style quilt, if you’re looking to make one on your own. Make it modern by using solids!