Crazy Quilt International Novice Round Robin

I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I stumbled across an amazing blog while researching ideas for my first crazy quilt.  All of the "eye candy" on the Crazy Quilting International Blog inspired me to join their groups on Yahoo.

On July 15th, I will participate in my first round robin with the group.  There are 5 of us in this round robin.  We each make a block and send it on to one of the other ladies.  The lady that receives our block will embellish one-fourth of the seams and spaces on the block.  Then they will mail it to the next lady, and so on.  In the end, we will each receive our own blocks back, with all of the work completed by the other four ladies.

As shown in a previous post, I used waste canvas to cross-stitch this as the centerpiece for my round robin block.

1st Attempt

A few days ago, I attempted to assemble the block.  Unfortunately, with a rectangular center, the method I was using to create my block left it very square.  After a while, I figured out how to make the sections less regular, but it simply did not fit with the incredibly linear sections I had already made.  As you can plainly see.

Completed Block

Today, I took the time to redo the block, and I am much happier with it now.  There are more angles.  Although, I must admit that I told my dear husband I almost wish I would have found a pattern to assemble this block.  His response was very similar to the thoughts that encouraged me to make the block on my own, "Wouldn't that take the crazy out of crazy quilt?"

There are still a few square corners, and that is fine - it will fit with my plans for the block once it returns home in November.

The block is 15-inches, though only 12 inches will be embellished.  The blue basted seam indicates the edges of the block, where my seam lines will be.  The block is intentionally larger so it will fit into a hoop without stretching the fabrics of the block itself.  Now, I'm off to finish stitching around the edges to keep the fabrics from fraying too much.  I have to admit, I cannot wait to see the magic the ladies perform on this in the upcoming months!