Round Robin Quilt - Mother/Sister Project - Quilt 5 of 5

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Round Robin Quilt - Betty (Mom's) Reveal

This is it … the final reveal!

Some of you have indicated that this has just been plain torture to wait so long for the last quilt …. Sorry! But I have to say I have absolutely loved every minute of this last year working on these quilts, and knowing that with this blog it all draws to a close I have tried to extend the fun for just a bit longer.

Before I turn this blog over to Mom to close us out, I do have to do some name dropping.

First, just in case any of our dear husbands read this – (what are the odds? HA!), all of us want to thank them for the patience that they have had over this last year. We have asked them all at some point a question or two such as, “What do you think of this shape?” “Do you like the pattern this way, or this way?”, “Are the pinwheels to big?” They have taken it all in stride and we are grateful and we wanted them, and you, to know that it did not go unnoticed.

There has been a rumor that they are working on a brother-in-law quilt – but something tells me they are just being sarcastic. I will keep you posted if there are any developments!

Since I began posting the pictures we have been asked so many questions, had so many wonderful comments, and have even been asked if we would like to be “interviewed”! Who knew?!

Thank you to everyone who has written us, or called, and know that you are welcome to share this blog and these pictures with anyone you would like to. If there is anyone out there who could get as much enjoyment out of this process as we have we are excited for them to do so! Remember if you are just now getting this that there are 5 quilts in total and all of the pictures can be seen by clicking "Previous Entry" at the bottom of this blog. Also, remember to click on any of the pictures when you get to the bottom of the reading and it will take you to a photo gallery of all of the pictures if you don't want to keep scrolling down the page to see them.

SO … now let me introduce the lady who is behind our love of quilting.

For as long as I can remember she has sewed and quilted. I can't remember a time when she didn't quilt, and while I admit there are periods of my past that I have totally drawn a blank on (not sure what that’s all about), I just don’t remember a time when there weren’t quilts and quilting going on at the house.

The earliest that I have a memory of a specific quilt, was a huge whole cloth quilt, embroidered with X’s in the pattern of a tree. I think I was around 8 maybe. Mom? Am I dreaming?

While I know that Mom doesn’t want us to go on and on and on about her MANY, MANY, amazing qualities – I simply cannot pass up the opportunity to be just a little gushy.

After Anthony and I had been married a couple of years we were invited to play the Newlywed game with a group from church. You all know how it goes … the wife/husband is asked a silly question and they write the answer on a card, and then the wife/husband comes in and tries to answer it the same way, and then vice versa.

We got to a question that was something like, “What would you want your wife to grow up to be?” I answered something like, “A good cook.” Which was true I am sure, but sad to say, I have NOT grown up to be a particularly good cook.

But when Anthony came in and was asked the same question he didn’t even blink an eye. He said, “Like her Mom.” Aw! Even then I was so proud of that, as I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Mom is truly a remarkable and talented woman in so very many ways, and I am still looking for the day when I feel like I have arrived at Anthony’s wish. And I say that on behalf of all of my sister's as I am positive without a shadow of a doubt that they feel the same way. (Except of course for the good cook part, because they are all very good cooks - that gene skipped the first born.)

Ok … so now here’s an exclusive interview with Betty before we pass the typewriter to her and let her close this amazing chapter.

Shasta: Do you remember the first quilt pattern that you made?

Betty: Yes, it was an embroidered quilt made up of the state birds and state flowers of all the states. At that time there were only 48 states!

Shasta: Do you have a favorite pattern?

Betty: The Flower garden pattern.

Shasta: What is your favorite type of quilting? Piecing, applique or embroidery.

Betty: Embroidery

Shasta: In the Round Robin project, what was the part that you liked best?

Betty: The challenge of figuring out what to do on each one, and the best way to compliment the other borders. Sometimes I got carried away!

Shasta: What was the hardest part of the Round Robin quilt?

Betty: I wouldn’t say any of it was really hard, we just had a great time with each other.

Shasta: If you were telling someone about the Round Robin Quilt process, what would you tell them that you wish you had known in the beginning?

Betty: That is the fun of it all – not knowing what is coming your way next and wondering if it will be squared up!

Shasta: Did you have a particular way of deciding what pattern you were going to do with each quilt as it came your way?

Betty: On yours (Shasta) I knew before I got it what I was going to do because I had done the same pattern on another quilt and you had commented when you saw it how much you liked it.

On Sonia’s I really got carried away with it, cutting out all of those pieces. It was more detailed than I thought it would be when I started.

For Tonya’s since it had a log cabin center I decided to continue that theme all around.

Then for Tammy’s she had hinted that she wanted me to embroider something somewhere on her quilt. So I picked a border and added embroidered embellished vintage purses.

Shasta: Thank you! Ok Momma, if you would please close out this amazing years’ journey for us with some of your own thoughts.

And Betty said ….

“I have been enjoying making quilts for a long, long time, but now that I have 4 wonderful daughters who enjoy this just as much as I do, we have a great time with all of our different projects. We usually have several going at one time. It is music to my ears when one will call and say, “Coming up this weekend! I have something I want your help with.”

But I think this is the first time we have all worked on the same project at the same time, and we chose a big one!

After all of the rules were set, it was time for a trip to the fabric store (Simply Southern). Like Tonya, I chose mostly batiks. I had already been working on a block (not knowing what I was going to do with it), so I decided just to finish it up and use it as the center of my quilt.

It was a vase of flowers that I machine appliqued, added some embroidery and then embellished with beads.

I used lots of purple and lavender as my base colors.

Then it was time to pass it on. As the Round Robin began, the one I was working on always went to Tammy and I always got the next one from Shasta. We each tried to take enough time for our border to compliment all of the others and I think we accomplished this beautifully.

This is something that we have enjoyed for a whole year and as they were all revealed, each was a total surprise. We had not seen our block or fabric since it left our hands the first of the year and to be honest I had forgotten about some of the material that I had bought, but it all worked out great.

I love my quilt and I want to thank all four of the girls for a great job!

I am so proud of all of you – Shasta – Sonia - Tonya – Tammy – Keep up the good work!

Love Mom,

P.S. Lesson learned: Always read magazines before giving it as a gift!

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Photos

Mamma's Center
Machine Appliqued, Hand Embroidery, and beads!

Tammy Goes first!
A final touch is appliqued butterflies in each corner.

Tammy's Finished Border
We got a kick out of Tammy sending pictures of the pinwheel blocks to Anthony for his opinion. Then he decided that she needed to put pinwheels on everyone's quilt!

Tonya's turn
To keep the floral theme going, Tonya made 3D flowers for her corners.

The corners really stand out once the flowers were set on top of the appliqued vines.

Sonia's Addition
Sonia was telling me about the border idea she had and I just HAPPENED to see this in a magazine I had been looking at. Weird how things like that happen!

Sonia Testing widths - too wide? too Narrow?

Now that the border is on, there is still just something missing ...

That's it! Complete!

Shasta has the last Round
So I knew I wanted to do fans ... but traditional? Or more oriental?

Without ribbon added around the border ...

With ribbon added ... see what a big difference a small addition can make?

Mom's Finished Quilt Top
All that talk about "Is it squared up?" - lets put a curved border on it!

Sewing Order
Mom, Tammy, Tonya, Sonia, Shasta