Friday Favorites: Deconstructed Piecing and Round Robin Quilt

I am inspired by so many things, I decided that every Friday, I will highlight a favorite person, thing, or idea. Maybe you will be inspired too! See all past Friday Favorites here.

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On this lovely Friday, let’s enter a world where paper piecing sharp angles, exact 1/4″ seams, and precise cuts in our quilts don’t exist. A world where you compose as you work, best laid plans (or any plans!) aren’t welcome.

I took part in a really fun Round Robin quilt class at Drygoods’ Make Do Mend studio, taught by Katie, last Sunday. That’s where this quilt started. If you’ve never heard of a Round Robin quilt, I found this rule page that explains the idea. Katie created a Round Robin pinboard that we’ve all been adding to as inspiration and ideas for the class. Anyway, I wanted to do a deconstructed center medallion of some sort (Sarah Fielke teaches a great Craftsy class showing this technique by the way), and, other than a basic color palette- yellows, grays, and blues- I had no real plans for what I would end up with. Or if I would even end up with anything I wanted to continue working on once the class was over. (After all, sometimes attending a class is as much about sewing with friends as it is learning new techniques.)

 
But I came home after that class OBSESSED with what was beginning to form in this quilt top. I had managed to completely botch the center medallion the first few times I sewed them (deconstructed piecing, or “free” piecing as some call it, is not as easy as it looks). But I had several strips and pieces from the other folks in the class to give me lots to play with. I made six more blocks to get the center medallion to finally work. I love how childlike it feels.

 
From here, I have a jaggedy sawtooth edge and some angled herringbone pieces that I will somehow incorporate into the final design. You all know how I love my symmetry in quiltmaking, so this feels delightfully out of left field for me!

 
You can also see above my new full sized quilt wall that Peter helped me erect after he made the quilt display ladder. We ran out of long screws and eyelets midway through hanging, but that hasn’t stopped me from using it.