Round Robin Guidelines

Overview:

 

·       The Round Robin swap is a fun way to contribute to quilts curated by a fellow guild member. This is a great way to get to know other members and to provide pieces for others’ quilts without taking up too much time each month. It’s also a fun way to try out new techniques or work with color schemes you normally wouldn’t use. 

 

·       Any A2MQG member may join the Round Robin swap at any regular meeting. 

 

o   To join, bring a starter quilt block in a large envelope or carry bag with your name, email address, and phone number written on it. For ease of transporting and swapping between participants, it really is helpful to have a durable pouch or bag with extra fabric for others to use in their blocks/sashing/etc. for your quilt. 

o   You may also want to include some loose guidelines, such as style of quilt, color family, embellishment restrictions, etc.

o   The concept is pretty open: Some past participants have even just put in a bunch of fabric and asked fellow members to create whatever they want.  Others have had a specific pattern they want for all blocks (such as all stars, all stripes, or all churn dash blocks).  Others have asked for total improv or put down requirements for things they don’t want such as words or letters.  It is totally up to you!

 

How the process works:

 

·       At each in-person regular guild meeting, bags are swapped between participants. Swap rotations will be determined by the swap chair.

 

·       Between meetings, participants add to the quilt in their possession. 

·       Participants can add to the quilts in whatever way they are creatively inspired but should be mindful of the guidelines requested by the quilt owner.

·       Additions should be respectful of the owner's requests and the work of the participants who previously had the quilt. (For example, if no one wants embellishments on their quilt, so adding yo-yos would not be appropriate.) 

·       Blocks and other additions created for the quilt do not need to be sewn together as they are made. It is perfectly fine, and actually appreciated when pieces are added to the bag to be used later. In fact, some participants enjoy laying out and sewing together groups of blocks and other pieces as part of their contribution once a number of separate pieces have been collected. 

·       There is not a required way of making an addition to a round robin quilt; Borders, blocks, improv pieces, and more are all acceptable and welcome. You may have a month where you only add a tiny piece but the person before you added an entire border – that is perfectly fine.

 

·       A participant may leave the swap at any time. They can pull their quilt permanently when they feel it is done or even temporarily remove it from rotation when going on an extended vacation or if they’d like to work on it themselves for a while and then return it to the rotation for additional work by others. Useful for vacations, this sentiment from Sherri Lynn Wood's round robin class is useful to consider: Think of round robin quilts as ongoing conversations. You want to listen to the conversation the quilt is having, and then continue it, adding your own voice. 

 

·       After initial rounds, the same person will likely work on a quilt more than once. While the swap chair will try to limit repeats, for quilts that are in for a longer time or if there is a smaller group in the rotation for a number of months, participants should expect to have multiple contributions to some quilts.


What to do if...

·       If a participant is not at a guild meeting, their quilt will not be worked on in the next round. The quilt will be held by the swap chair until the next swap.

 

·       If a participant is unable to attend a guild meeting and has someone's quilt, it would be best if they could have someone bring it to the meeting for them. Otherwise, they will need deliver or mail that quilt to the next participant for the following round within one week of the meeting so the next participant has time to add their contribution.

 

·       If the next guild meeting is scheduled to be virtual, participants should plan to make two contributions to the quilt in their possession and plan to swap them at the next in-person meeting. 

 

·       If there doesn’t seem to be enough fabric left in the bag and the participant does not have anything they feel will meet the guidelines for the quilt, they should reach out to the quilt owner directly to discuss next steps.