Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Round Robin #6: Quilter's Choice

It's the last round of the Stay at Home Round Robin!  This project always go so fast!  This week, you will link up with Anja.  She says Quilter's Choice!  Choose whatever you think your quilt needs for its final round and link up this week.  Then, come back in a month for our parade of finishes.  You can display either a finished top or a finished quilt for the parade that opens on March 25th. For each week you link up, you get an entry into our prize drawing, to be done after the Parade of Finishes.  Prizes and sponsors are listed at the end of the post.

 

My biggest challenge for this round was background fabric.  I originally intended to use the 2 large cuts from Garden Gate that I had equally for background, but I ended up using the lighter multi as my background by default.  The darker purple just didn't work as well in the blocks.  I had some hourglass units for my first attempt at Brenda's round 1 that I didn't use, so I created a block using those units, and I added what I had of the lighter fabrics in the collection where I would have used background had I had enough.  I needed a few more hourglass units, plus enough of the background to put sashing in-between blocks and at the edges.  I pieces every little scrap I had together and while I made it through the blocks, I didn't have enough to make the row the same width as the others.



Gail to the rescue!  She had some left from her Garden Gate project last fall and was generous enough to send it to me.  Hooray!  I was able to finish my row.  The photos are from before the fabric arrived in the mail.



I now have seven rows.  One of the things I like about doing the SAHRR as a row by row is that it's easy to move the rows around, so I'm not stuck with the order we chose the rounds.  I'm going to play with what arrangement I think looks best and I'll have a completed top to show you next month. 

 

  • January 14th: Center/Centre blocks Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 21st: First Round: hourglass units   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28th: Second Round: make it a double  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4th:  Third Round: Animal Kingdom That's me!!! Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11th:  Fourth Round: Curves  Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18th: Fifth Round: Two Colors  Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25th: Sixth Round: Quilter's Choice Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25th:  Parade of Finishes showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

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    The Prizes:



     

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    Wednesday, February 18, 2026

    Round Robin #5: Two Colors

    Welcome back to the Stay at Home Round Robin!  It's been so fun to see all of these quilts take shape!  This week, our mastermind Gail tells us what to do.  She says this round is two colors, so you can do whatever you want, but only use two colors. If you wish, you may use two colors plus background.  

    The background fabric I'm using in my blocks is multi-colored, but I'm declaring that single fabric as one "color" for the sake of this round.  Then my second color is purple.  Each block has two purple fabrics, but they are both definitely purple, so I'm saying that counts. Therefore, my two colors are Background and Purple.



    This round actually helped me out a lot because I'm running out of fabric!  I'm using a 10" Stack (layer cake) of Garden Gate from Lumin Fabrics, and I'm down to mostly scraps.  Luckily, I have a 2-yard cut of one of the darker purples, so I was able to combine that with some of the other purples in the collection for this round.  I think that dark purple is photographing darker than it actually is; I promise that's it's clearly purple in person and not black!

     

    These blocks are 8" finished.  I made 6 of them and added 1" sashing in-between, and added enough on the rows to come out to 56" (even though it's off-center in the photo!)

     


    Gail has the linky for this week. Remember, each week that you link up gets you an entry into our prize drawing at the end of the round robin.  We have some really great sponsors and amazing prizes!  The full list is at the end of this post. 

     


    One of the best parts of the SAHRR is everyone uses the same prompt in very different ways!  Be sure to visit all the hosts to see all the ways we interpreted two colors.
     

  • January 14th: Center/Centre blocks Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 21st: First Round: hourglass units   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28th: Second Round: make it a double  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4th:  Third Round: Animal Kingdom That's me!!! Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11th:  Fourth Round: Curves  Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18th: Fifth Round: Two Colors  Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25th: Sixth Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25th:  Parade of Finishes showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

    •   





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    Wednesday, February 11, 2026

    Round Robin #4: Curves

    Welcome back to the Stay at Home Round Robin!  I had such a good time seeing what everyone did with the Animal Kingdom prompt! There were so many great blocks, appliques, and animal print fabrics, and some folks found blocks I had not heard of. I did visit everyone who linked up but had trouble commenting on a few.  Ironically, it's Blogger blogs that seem determined not to let me comment, despite being a Blogger user myself.  So know that I love seeing all your Animal Kingdom interpretations, even those I was unable to comment on.  

    This week, it is Wendy's turn to tell us what to sew, and she picked curves. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I. do. not. enjoy. sewing. curves. So this prompt was a bit more of a challenge for me. I did consider appliqueing the curves, which is completely legit for this round. But ultimately, I decided to embrace the challenge so I picked a block with pieced curves.  

     



    I've long been in interested in the flowering snowball block. Accuquilt does have a die for that block but I do not own it, and it felt like a lot to purchase for a SAHRR round, so I looked for templates.  The only free template I found was here, and it made a 6" block.  I know that the smaller the block, the more difficult the curve, so I enlarged the template. 

     


    My blocks ended up around 9".  They aren't exact, but that didn't matter.  I made five blocks and sewed them together without sashing, as sashing would have broken up the curved shapes.  I added filler at the ends to get to a row that is 56".

     


     Here are my rows so far:

     


    Wendy has the linky this week.  Remember, each week that you link up gets you an entry into our prize drawing at the end of the round robin.  We have some really great sponsors and amazing prizes!  The full list is at the end of this post. 

     


    Be sure to check out all 6 SAHRR hosts:

  • January 14th: Center/Centre blocks Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 21st: First Round: hourglass units   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28th: Second Round: make it a double  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4th:  Third Round: Animal Kingdom That's me!!! Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11th:  Fourth Round: Curves Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18th: Fifth Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25th: Sixth Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25th:  Parade of Finishes showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

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    Wednesday, February 4, 2026

    Round Robin #3: Animal Kingdom

    Welcome to round three of the Stay at Home Round Robin! It's my turn to set the prompt! This week, we’re taking inspiration from the animal kingdom!  Any animal counts, from the smallest ant to the biggest of sharks. There are lots of ways to interpret Animal Kingdom.  Here are some ideas:

    • A block or unit named after an animal: Bear Paw, Monkey Wrench, Snail's Trail, Birds in the Air, Shoo Fly, Puss in the Corner...there are so many!  Looking for something simple?  There's always that classic quilt unit, Flying Geese.
    • Applique of an animal
    • Pieced block that looks like an animal
    • Fabric that contains animals

     

     

    I had a lot of fun looking at classic quilt blocks with animals in the name.  Ultimately, I went with the Bear Paw block.  In addition to being a great classic block, it's easy to make scrappy and still look great.  Since I'm using a 10" stack (layer cake), scrappy helps me use the fabric I have.





    I am using the Garden Gate collection by Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics.  I really like the combination of colors in this fabric line.


    I made 5 Bear Paw blocks.  These are 10" finished. I added 1" sashing in between, then added spacers on the end to get a row that is 56".  

    Here are the rows I have so far: 


    I am so excited to see what inspiration you take from the animal kingdom!  Remember, this is your quilt, so you can be be creative in how you interpret the prompt. Link below if you are sewing along.   The linky will be available through midnight next Tuesday February 10th, eastern time. 

    You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

    Click here to enter 

    Remember, each week that you link up gets you an entry into our prize drawing at the end of the round robin.  We have some really great sponsors and amazing prizes!  The full list is at the end of this post. 

     


    Be sure to check out all 6 SAHRR hosts:

  • January 14th: Center/Centre blocks Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 21st: First Round: hourglass units   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28th: Second Round: make it a double  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4th:  Third Round: Animal Kingdom That's me!!! Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11th:  Fourth Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18th: Fifth Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25th: Sixth Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25th:  Parade of Finishes showing all of your finished SAHRRs!



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    Wednesday, January 28, 2026

    Round Robin #2: Make it a Double!

    Welcome back to the Stay at Home Round Robin!  This week it is Kathleen's turn to tell us what to add, and she says, "Make it a double!"  What does that mean?  Choose any "double" block and use that in your quilt.  If you are an EQ8 user, a search of "double" as a keyword reveals lots and lots of options.  Kathleen will also highlight possibilities on her blog.  I chose the double pinwheel block.

     



    I am now completely in love with this fun and fast block and am considering a quilt of just double pinwheels. I used my Accuquilt to cut all the pieces.  These blocks came together very quickly.  They are 8" blocks, so I made 6 of them.  There is 1" finished sashing between each block, though I hadn't added it yet when I took this photo.   

     

    Here are the three rows I've made so far. 

     


    I am using the Garden Gate collection by Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics.  I have a 10" stack, so I have to be creative in how I use each fabric. 


    If you are sewing along, Kathleen has the linky this week.  Remember that each week that you link up gets you an entry into our prize drawing at the end of the round robin.  We have some really great sponsors and amazing prizes!  The full list is at the end of this post. Be sure to check out all 6 SAHRR hosts to see what each one chose for "Make it a Double!"

  • January 14th: Center/Centre blocks Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 21st: First Round: hourglass units   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28th: Second Round: make it a double  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4th:  Third Round: That's me!!! Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11th:  Fourth Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18th: Fifth Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25th: Sixth Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25th:  Parade of Finishes showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

    •  Sponsors & Prizes:

     



     

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    Wednesday, January 21, 2026

    Round Robin #1: Hourglass Units

    It's the first round in the Stay at Home Round Robin!  Brenda of Songbird Designs gets to tell us what to add to our quilts this week and she picked hourglass units.

     



    Hourglass units are also known as quarter-square triangles.   When the fabrics at opposite ends are the same, they look like an hourglass.  There are many methods for making quarter-square triangles; my favorite is to use my Accuquilt, but I've also followed online tutorials when I needed a size I don't have an Accuquilt die for.



    I had a couple different ideas for using hourglass units. One of my favorite blocks are Ohio Star blocks, which use quarter-square triangles, but I wanted something a little different.  I looked around for blocks that use quarter-square triangles, found this one on Kate Colleran's website, then used EQ8 to tweak the block to something similar (that also feels a little like an Ohio Star) but different.  I apparently forgot to take a picture of a single block before I sewed them together. 

    I made 4 blocks and added sashing between them.  I have not finalized how long I'm making my rows, so for now there is not anything on the ends, but there will eventually be background fabric on the ends to get every row the same length.    


    Brenda's got the link up this week, so head over there once you have your hourglass round made.  Remember, every time you link up, you earn an entry into our prize drawing.  I've got the sponsors and prizes at the end of this post.  Here's the complete Stay at Home Round Robin schedule:

  • January 14th: Center/Centre blocks Gail @ Quilting Gail
  • January 21st: First Round: hourglass units   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • January 28th: Second Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • February 4th:  Third Round: That's me!!! Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
  • February 11th:  Fourth Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
  • February 18th: Fifth Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 25th: Sixth Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • March 25th:  Parade of Finishes showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

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    Thursday, January 15, 2026

    Emerge: Starry Seas blog hop

    Welcome to my stop on the Starry Seas blog hop!  Starry Seas is a new signature fabric collection for my friend Jennifer of The Inquiring Quilter, made by Island Batik/Lumin Fabrics.  Jennifer asked if I'd make something to celebrate the collection and I enthusiastically agreed!  

     

    I leaned heavily into the dark blues and turquoises of Starry Seas, with just a touch of the golden orange for accent.  I am calling this pattern Emerge. 



    There are eight of the SKUs from Starry Seas in Emerge, plus Island Batik's foundation neutral Cream.  Emerge is 60" square.

     

    Starry Seas is arriving in quilt shops now.  Want to win some Starry Seas fabric?  Jennifer is giving away a fat quarter bundle of the collection on her blog.  And be sure to visit every stop on the Starry Seas blog hop!

     

    January 12th - Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter  

    January 13th - Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

    January 14th - Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts

    January 15th - Emily @ The Darling Dogwood 🠄 You Are Here!

    January 16th - Laura @ Slice of Pi
    January 18th - Gail @ Quilting Gail
    January 21st - Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter (WINNER ANNOUNCED!)

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