Something to Write About!

Happy New Year a little bit late.  Seems to be the theme of this blog.
There are so many days when I think about blogging, but I don't feel that I have made progress, so I don't really have anything to show.  Then, I start to forget about blogging and I immerse myself in IG and Facebook.  I admire the consistent bloggers who seem to have a new finish every few days.  I am amazed at the talented women (and men) who are so creative and productive!

Since I am blogging and you are presumably reading this blog, you have likely figured out that I do have something to show... and you would be correct.  So here we go!

First, I did finish the quilting on the Gee's Bend quilt however I have not yet added the binding and finished the project.  It's staring at me as I sit here and write.  Soon, very soon!

Second, I finished my Modern Crazy Quilt (I call her Mod CrZY).  I first organized my scraps (what a job!) and then used my scraps to make "made fabric" ala Victoria Findley Wolf.  Everything in this top is from my stash:

 Then I reorganized my sewing room, put up shelving and tried to deal with the distinct lack of useful lighting in this room:

 Then I went back to the Mod CrZY top to move it along:

 I used a medium dark grey and then added improv geese for a border.  It must be squared up and then quilted, but I am done with the craziness for now!  In the future I will never again make improv wandering geese - total nightmare to finish and I ran out of grey and had to piece the last bit of border.  But, I managed to complete the top solely from my stash and that was my goal when I started.  It would have been so much easier to buy more grey to properly finish this top, but...not part of the rules of play. I think I have 2 or 3 very small pieces of grey remaining that are now in my scrap boxes to be used some other time.  

Next, I turned my attention to a Round Robin piece that I needed to work on for my friend Jaye.  I brought the piece with me (one round done by another contributor plus the center done by Jaye) when I moved from the Bay Area.  I located everything when I organized my sewing room (phew - I was beginning to wonder where I had put Jaye's materials and then magically they appeared as I emptied one of the many boxes of fabric!).

This is what it looked like when I received it:

I then squared it up, narrowed the outside "block" rows, added a small strip of the confetti dot fabric on those sides and added pinwheels to top and bottom.  I wanted to elongate the top, which was very square and introduce another shape:

As I'm looking at this photo, I'm thinking maybe pinwheels along the two sides which would act as a frame for the center design as though it were the medallion center and would, in my mind, call for this to be a big quilt?  Previously, I was thinking that the next round should be something different - more geese?  improv trees?  elongated log cabins?  I've sent the photos to Jaye for her thoughts.  

I have to say I really like this top. The fabric is happy and uplifting to work with.  The interesting thing about a Round Robin is that you have to stretch yourself to come up with a vision in light of the work that people before you have done.  

More to come with this top and the completion of other projects sitting and staring at me as I write...

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.