A Jelly Roll Round Robin

Have you ever participated in a round robin? Oh my goodness, they are F-U-N. Especially when you gather together a group of quilters who are eager to join in and create something special!

Awhile ago, I enlisted some of my international quilting buddies to participate in a Jelly Roll Round Robin. I told them the rules of the exchange were simple: Everyone would receive a couple of yards of backing fabric plus a Jelly Roll. They could construct any 20″ (finished) square of their choice for the quilt center and then send the square and extra fabric to the next person on the list in the exchange. I set up a schedule to keep track of the where-abouts of the quilts in progress, and sent contact information to everyone. Then the fun began!

I told them they didn’t have to create anything elaborate or complex; simple was just fine. Well, these ladies rose to the occasion and completely surpassed my wildest expectations! And we had more fun sending those packages back and forth overseas (although there were a few tense, nail-biting days when packages couldn’t be tracked through customs) adding borders and creating beautiful quilts. In fact, these quilts were featured in my third book, Jelly Roll Quilt Magic! in the “Fun with Friends” chapter. I thought it might be fun to revisit these lovely quilts here on the blog today and to introduce you to those talented friends of mine. Think of it as just a friendly little show-and-tell.

Christine Lacroix, France

Christine’s quilt is constructed with three-dimensional units and origami-type fabric folding. It is exquisitely beautiful!

Carla Conner, Germany

Carla’s quilt began with a beautiful tree-of-life square.
This quilt ended up surprisingly large in size and captures elements from nature which compliment the tree perfectly!

Claire Neal, USA

The design of Claire’s quilt was a delight because the borders flowed into one another in such a way that
when the quilt was completely assembled, it was difficult to tell where each border began and ended!

Birgit Schuller, Germany

Birgit’s geometric shapes were so fun to add with each round. And her three dimensional extended
border/edge finishing treatment is the perfect compliment to this cool, modern design!

My quilt — I absolutely love all the pieced shapes and traditional motifs.
Each border was thoughtfully planned and lovingly pieced by my dear friends. A quilt I will always treasure!