The beginning of a round robin quilt

Do you remember the New Quilt Blogger's Blog Hop?  No?  Read about it here, here, here, and here.

One of the things I that really love about having participated in the blog hop this year is the opportunity to meet other new quilt bloggers who are just as passionate about the art of quilting as I am.  We have had the opportunity to critique each others blogs, learn from all of our collective mistakes, and share our quilting with each other.

A small group of us from the US and Canada thought it would be fun to get together and form a round robin style quilting bee.  The way this bee works is that each person makes a center block/starting block and then mails it to the next person on the list.  With each rotation the quilt grows with a new border or section being added each time.  The quilt grows a little bit each time it's passed on and when you get your center back, it's now a beautiful finished quilt!  There are a lot of example of round robin quilts. Some are more traditional with a four-sided border being added each time.  Others are very modern and free form with each person adding a little something extra each time, maybe a few blocks, or a large section.

The other participants can be found here:

Heather at QA Creations

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Kim at Ties That Bind Quilting

Liz at Green Cheese Quilting

Mary at See Mary Quilt

Christina at WIPs and Tuts

Jennifer at Never Just Jennifer

Chelsea Huckins at Patch the Giraffe

This weekend I began working on my starting blocks.  First I pulled a nice bundle of warm off-white low volume fabrics to use as backgrounds...

Then I pulled some fun prints from the Mormor bundle I had sitting around and the new Cotton + Steel basics bundle that just arrived.  I was going for a scrappy-bright look.

I've decided that I want my quilt to be a modern cabin in the New Hampshire woods quilt...think log cabin blocks, and flying geese, and maple leaves, and everything else that I love about living in New Hampshire.  So what better way to start that than with a compass.  Inspired by this beautiful mini-quilt, I dove in and got one of my blocks sewn this weekend.

Julie, who made the previously mentioned mini quilt, was kind enough to send me a link to some free New York Beauty block templates. (Thanks Julie!) I printed them all on legal sized paper and plan to make one of each then see which four I like best.  Then I'll either include the other 5 blocks to be added to the quilt later on or use them to make my own mini-quilt to proudly display.

I'm also using the Just My Type alphabet templates from Quiet Play for my compass letters and plan on piecing the New Hampshire state motto:  "Live Free or Die."  Because it can't be a New Hampshire quilt without the motto!

I'm so excited to be participating in this group of wonderful and talented quilters.  We're still working out a name but will be sure to share more as things progress.  Stay tuned for this fun adventure of ours!  You can find links to all of our blogs below:

Heather at QA Creations

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Kim at Ties That Bind Quilting

Liz at Green Cheese Quilting

Mary at See Mary Quilt

Christina at WIPs and Tuts

Jennifer at Never Just Jennifer

Chelsea Huckins at Patch the Giraffe