Nesting Robin Clue 2

Things have been very busy for me lately. I have had house guests and some job training that have kept me away from projects. I have been working on my forever handquilting project though and making great progress on that.

In any case the clue for August is to use triangles. for your nesting robin. The challenge this month is to put it on point with big triangles. If you do not want it to be on point when finished you can always do the on point treatment again to bring it back to the original orientation and still get that nice movement of the on point setting. You can make your triangles any way you like, you can piece the on point setting or just make a border or components using triangles in any way you choose.

I have used the on point setting for my nesting robin and as you can see in the upper right there is the beginnings of applique. Next month you will see what the design looks like.

Nesting Robin July 2015-Dec 2015 Clue #1

I left my blocks up on the design wall and went and looked at them a few times. I had some ideas for some of them but those will be for another project for another day. You can see in the photo below the second row down the second from the left is the lucky block chosen for my Nesting Robin. I made this as a test block for a Dear Jane swap I did about a decade ago. We used Civil War reproduction fabrics and made a group of 9" blocks. I do not remember the name of the block or the fabric I used for the swap but this is my test block. I used fabrics that were in my stash that made be happy. The block came out nicely and went together quickly the test block had served its purpose so ended up being put aside................until now.

I chose this block because I love the bright vibrant colors. I also like the sense of movement the block had by appearing to be on point when it was not.  I decided to proceed with clue one and washed two new one yard cuts of  rust colored fabrics. While those were in the wash I was cleaning up some things in the sewing room and I came across the strips below that I had made at the retreat I attended two years ago. They were sashing for another quilt and I made too many. They too have been hanging around with no real purpose. On a whim I placed them around my block and played with the right colors.

Humm..................not at all what I had envisioned but a win because they were already made and they look pretty nice. The colors do not match perfectly with what is there but as the quilt grows it will all balance out. Now the fledgling quilt has been started and awaits the next clue!

I hope those of you that are participating are enjoying figuring out your beginning and coming up with a plan to work on the first clue. Don't forget to share your progress.

Nesting Robin July 2015 thru December 2015

What do the blocks in the photo have in common?

Well it is not really a trick question because they are all made of fabric and that is about it. As quilt blocks they really do not have much in common. Some are from swaps and are left over blocks. Some were made by me out of "junk" fabrics to try out blocks before I cut into my "good" fabric. There is one vintage block in the lower right. The big yellow star in the center was made because I was sending off three blocks for comfort quilts and I made one to keep as a reminder of my dear friend who had passed away. The one in the upper right was all hand pieced and has a few faded spots.

Ok so what is the point here. This is a group of Orphan blocks. They are not part of a bigger group of blocks for a quilt...................but each could become part of a new project. I am inviting you to participate in a Nesting Robin with me.

So what is a Nesting Robin? Well it is not a round robin where you send away a block to someone and they add something and send it to the next person who adds something and so forth till you get it back. Nope this is a Nesting Robin in that you will be doing all the work on yourself as the block stays in the Nest.........or with you. This means that you get to make all the decisions on what happens to it and you can follow the rules as you want to interrupt them.

This will be done with a series of "clues". Each month I will tell you what to add next. You will get to decide how to use that clue. If you just do not like my clue then do something you want that month. In the end you will have five borders, rows, or components to put together. Note that you do not need to do borders (or if you do borders they do not have to go all the way around.

If this sounds like fun there is a flicker page that was made for the last go round of this. Those that were working on the Nesting Robin posted a photo of the beginning block or components and then each addition. If you would like to add your photos to that page let me know and I will send you information on it. Please send me e-mail thru my blog with Nesting Robin July 2015 in the subject line and I will tell you how to proceed with the flicker page.

I will post the first clue here: Choose a block, a row of blocks, a panel or whatever you will start with and add something that is with pieces that are longer than they are wide. In addition as an extra challenge use at least one color that is not in your block.

The next clue will be published the second week of August.