Lakeland PBS presents Common Ground brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Production funding of Common Ground is made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji, continuing their second century of service to the community.

Member FDIC.

Welcome to Common Ground.

I'm producer-director Scott Knutson.

In this episode Kay Mack of Bemidji leads quilters in a collaborative round robin.

Come on in.

Hi there!

Here we are!

Another year!

What happens is every year or two years, I'll send out a text to all of them.

Would you like to be involved in a round robin again and I get back many eager yeses.

Hi Deb!

Come on in.

Do you want me to mask?

We each do a round and we pass it on.

How are you?

How are you two?

We each start out with one block.

We call the center block and it gets passed.

You keep passing to the next person and then they pass to the next person and everybody puts a round on your original.

I just set some dates, this is when we're going to get together with our first block.

These are the dates when we'll pass our blocks on to the next woman and this is the date when we'll have the what we call the unveiling.

I'm going to hand off to Cheryl.

Cheryl will hand off to Diane.

Diane to Deb and Deb to Sharon and then Sharon you're handing off to me because you were at the bottom.

So you'll be handing off to me.

Start and then five months later you get what you started out as your center block back with all kinds of surprises on it and they're always wonderful surprises.

I've got Cheryl's.

She's got a pretty funky quilt block.

I had seen a block somewhat like this but it was different and so it was not, I did not have a pattern so I had to make it which should not be hard.

So I wanted to do something kind of summery and just a little more fun and whimsical.

And not only did I do it a block I've never done before, I chose colors i've never done before.

My gosh!

Awesome!

I decided to just showcase the fabric.

Oh okay.

And so I just did a small scrappy block.

This is Cheryl's.

So Diane there you go that's your project for the month.

Mine is gonna go to Cheryl, so she's not here.

Diane you hand yours off to Deb.

Okay.

I packaged it all up for you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay cool.

And then Deb of course to Sharon.

This is, we're going backwards, the last two I think Sharon.

You have tested me.

Yes, yes.

So this is great.

Yes that's right Sharon hands it up to me.

All right.

Thank you.

I'm anxious to.

that's just that's beautiful.

That's gonna be easy to work with.

I started a round robin with some women from my church after we had created a beautiful raffle quilt which was a sampler but I said do you guys want to take part in a round robin?

I kind of describe it to them and they have been very anxious and excited to be part of it.

You know, I don't know the history but I read a novel about round robin quilting.

So, I had kind of heard about it but I still had a hard time visualizing how a quilt would turn out even nicely with that many women touching the same quilt.

I suspect it's been around for generations.

The first couple that I was in people passed on their block without passing on any fabric with it.

So you added your own fabric from your own stash.

It's kind of morphed into most of us provide quite a bit of fabric when we send it on so that no one has to go out and buy their own but we allow them to do that if they want to.

If they think, oh I want to introduce a new black or whatever, we certainly allow them to do that but usually we're passing the fabric on ourselves.

So I created a center block from some material scraps that I had.

My center block is really simple.

It's just squares, two inch squares and it just kind of features the material.

I really tried to incorporate all the or many, most of the fabrics that I sent along with my block because sometimes it is hard to introduce a fabric if it's not been utilized before because it just incorporates everything to a greater degree if you can get a lot of fabric in your center.

At least that's my idea.

It's challenged me to do something that maybe I've never done before.

For example, creating a pattern.

I've always just bought quilt patterns and went with the directions and then when I started with round robins, there is no pattern.

You have to make your own and and I really didn't have much confidence that I could do that but after doing a few I don't buy patterns anymore, you know, I can see it and it's a challenge but it's also a joy when it works.

You know, it's really intimidating to work on somebody else's quilt, trying to figure out what fits their personality, what they would be comfortable with and of course deciding what to do.

Sometimes it's really easy, you know, it comes to me right away, like, oh I know what it needs and then there's other times that you're going, oh my.

I have to think about this and you know you only have about a month, so you can't think forever.

The ones that I really have to think about, I also feel really rewarded when I'm done because you know I put a lot of thought into it.

So far things have worked out pretty well.

Probably the round robin is a perfect pandemic project because there's a lot of time that you spend alone in your sewing room but you don't feel alone because you've got the journals of the, you know, the quilt that you're working on, you kind of are thinking about that person.

I know that if I ran into any problems there'd be a group that would be resources for me.

It's being alone, being creative, being busy but yet feeling supported.

I really like meeting with all the other gals.

They are very talented and inspire me.

That's a joy for me.

Okay, now starts the fun part.

I've got my center block and I've created these rows to go around the block and I will start by sewing the first one on.

I got this block from Sharon.

Sharon hands off to me every month is how it's going to be.

So, I'm going to sew my quarter inch seam allowance and I'm going to have it be on this side so I can know that I'm hitting the perfect point on that middle block.

I really love to bring focus to the center block, the one that she created.

So, I always like to see the block kind of framed in the first one or two rounds.

In this round, I really wanted to just give it a frame, something simple that doesn't take away from the beauty or distract from the beauty of her center block.

The first side is nicely attached and see how that point just comes out really nicely.

I just added a simple checker board.

I'm using fabrics that Sharon submitted and these are all batik fabrics, really nice to work with.

The artistic challenge is the biggest challenge but another thing is trying to be courteous and kind to the quilter that's after you.

So, Sharon gave me a 12 inch block.

That's a real common and what's really nice, what people who don't quilt might not realize is you like things that are divisible by more than one number so that the next block you add, you can easily add to it.

So, then when I add on to it, now it is 16 by 16 because I added two inches on each side.

The next quilter will have the option of either four inch blocks or two inch blocks when she adds to it.

But when we get together five months after the start, so Sharon will have no idea whether I'm gonna add an applique block or a bunch of triangles or flying geese.

So, she won't have any idea what her quilt has become until when we have the unveiling.

By then it's usually no less than five feet by five feet, the quilt.

So, it's a large enough for a wall hanging, certainly large enough you could add more to it to become a bed quilt.

So, that was the last of four rows and it's always really fun to open it up and see what it's going to look like with that round on it.

Good morning Cheryl it's time.

This is Sharon Frees's.

Whoops, it's all right that's just her journal.

She did a little block.

12 inch.

She did a 12 inch block and then I didn't add a lot.

So just kind of framed it.

I like that.

Pretty.

It's beautiful.

She uses batiks a lot and they're always just gorgeous.

So, there's the block and here's the journal.

The block I got is this block here.

The center of this.

It's the square and then this little squares all the way around it.

Someone else did and then I put it on my wall because I have to look at things for a while and study them because I had no idea what I was going to do with it because I loved it the way it was and it was up there for a while and then one of the pins slipped and it slipped and so then it was on point which is what I wanted to do with it I thought anyway but being on point you're going to have bigger pieces to fill in.

You know, what i'm doing now is just stitching on the appliques.

I don't know why I get to applique all the time because I do so little of it.

When the round robin comes to you and then there's everything square you kind of want to add something different to it.

So, that's when I decided I was going to applique but it took me a while to find a pattern I liked and these are you know not straight lines.

So, they're curved so you have to go rather slowly.

As soon as the curve, I have the curve going straight through right now but this next stitch it's going to curve.

So, I have to stop and turn my piece just keep that stitch on the edge and right now I'm regulating it with my foot not with anything else.

But when you get into a really tight space you can use your needle up and down because it'll just go one stitch and you'll know where you're at if your machine has that ability.

Most the time when you do four blocks like that, you make them the same.

You look at Kay's blocks, those little one-inch squares, you just use two colors and it's beautiful.

But because of all the colors, I want to use as many colors as I could.

So, I made every one different and every part of it did different from the other block.

So, that's how I ended up with what I got and so I just wanted it to move.

So, you just kind of would move around in each of the flowers.

If you look at them, they're facing the same direction so you see that circular flow.

All the leaves are done and the center is done.

Now I just have the center left and the stem.

So, I'm done with the colored thread so that means change thread.

It's fun, it really is.

I mean I love to quilt so, you know, I spend a lot of time in my quilting room but I work better under pressure than I do, you know, the first part of the month I just look at it until something comes to me.

You can look at it, you can see a lot of possibilities right away because you if you've quilted for a long time and all these people have, you know, you could just put any kind of border on something that would look fine but it isn't something you wanted to give to somebody else, I don't think.

Okay, we're going to make this one a little bigger than the ones around the little leaves.

Well, because you want your work to be good enough to give to somebody else that's going to work on it too and the person at the end hopefully they smile, you know, big smiles when they see it because the reveal is so funny and it's funny but it's, that's the only kind of stress.

It's not really stressful, it's just, you know, you worry about your work being good enough for somebody else's work.

Okay.

See what we have.

Oh look at that.

Wow very nice.

Yeah, well this will be great.

I will have something to think about and ponder now.

I was invited to do a round robin and this is my fourth one and Kaye invited and organized the group and we've just learned a lot every single round.

I looked at Sharon's center block and I saw the little bias squares and so I knew I could use, I could incorporate what she started with and all the colors and go around and do that celebration of color and I can look at the block and I see what Sharon did and I see the pieces that she used to coordinate with the pieces that Kay used and then I can look at what Cheryl did and I see kind of where that was used.

So, I think we've worked together long enough that we kind of read each other's rounds.

I am sewing my triangle squares, bias squares together to make the rectangle unit.

Some pieces just jump out at you.

You just kind of know what you want to do next and then the next one, I've had a few that I didn't have any inspiration until the very last minute and then it just blossomed and I'm not sure how that happens but it does.

This one was easy, fairly easy.

I've had some that because of the measurements are not maybe, they're an odd measurement and so then I'm not sure what I want to do and how doing all the math but they all evolve on their own.

I think the challenge is some pieces just you get it and you just know instantly what you want to do and the next piece might be something totally out of your comfort zone.

So, it's kind of letting it speak to you and trying to find out what colors you want to use, if you want to incorporate something new and then the personality of the owner.

You take the risk that what you have in your head will look good when it's all put together.

Wonderful and thank you, oh and thank you for sending that picture.

That really helped.

Got me thinking about what to do so, yes to ponder it.

Right.

Okay thanks Diane okay.

Bye bye.

The first thing I do is open the quilt and I put it up on my design wall where I can just look at it for as however long as I want.

I usually get a pretty good idea fairly quickly of what I want to do.

My favorite part is opening that box or that tote with all the fabric.

I just fan out all the fabric and usually one fabric will jump out at me like oh I want to use that one.

For this quilt it was the brown that's in the big triangle.

Diane handed it to me and she actually sent me a text with a photo before we did the physical handoff.

So, I got a chance to see what she had done and to think about what I wanted to do ahead of time.

Sharon always sends beautiful batik fabrics, she loves batiks, so we know that Sharon is brave.

She's not afraid of color at all.

She just has these combinations that you wouldn't consider really go together but it works.

When you get so many different colors together, it's just an explosion.

I just think what I want to do, let it, you know, kind of what's the word - marinate for a few days and then I sketch it usually by hand.

If we look at my two sketches, when I turned the quilt that Diane gave me on point, everybody else's rounds were just enhanced.

I didn't want to make them fade into the background or anything.

I don't think there was a chance of that with these colors.

They're all so bold and strong.

This is the very furthest corner of the quilt.

So this is a combination of all the strips that I've put together.

So, I have 10 different colors here.

So this is, these 10 colors kind of being interwoven and the last thing I have to do is put them together.

I really like a quilt with dimension and so turning it on point also gave me a chance to maybe look like it's a little layered.

So, it's like there's a square behind a square and then with a nice strong border that goes behind that second square.

It's hard to explain but when you see it, I think you get the idea of what I mean by a dimension.

The strips that I put around the outside, it was a border that I had had in my mind for a while and I've never put it on a quilt before.

I just call it a woven corner because the strips weave together in the corners.

That's another thing, you get to try new things that you maybe have thought about or seen and but haven't had an opportunity to do on one of your own quilts.

I love this process.

I love the creativity.

I love how it makes me think.

I love the logic.

No quilt is ever perfect and it shouldn't be because it's by hand.

I know when I go to actually finish a quilt and put the layers together, there's all kinds of computer programs that you can get for that, you know, that quilting process and I much prefer a free hand because it's not perfect.

All right ladies, welcome, welcome.

We're gonna go in reverse order.

So, Sharon is going to reveal the last quilt that she worked on.

The last person that's worked on the round robin is the presenter to the originator of the block.

Oh, I love it!

Wow, just kind of a lot of oohing aahhing.

That's basically what it is.

It looks southeastern or southwestern, I mean.

I like that.

Do you love it?

Wow!

I love it.

Yes.

I love the way it came around the corners.

I love it.

Anyway, I had taken this fabric and narrowed it up and hung it there and I really liked it.

I thought well, I'll put a little border on it.

Oh my gosh.

Look at beautiful.

I think it has allowed me to get to know, particularly the people that are on either side of me in the process.

So, it's the people that hand me a quilt because I get to meet them in person and I get to open up their box and see what they did and talk about what they did and you get to know that person.

I know that working on different blocks I always think of kind of that person's, their color likes.

This particular one, Sharon loves color.

So, we're just going to celebrate color with it and each one is unique.

Oh my goodness, that's just beautiful.

The one thing with round robins is once you pass it on you don't know what you'll get back but it's always spectacular.

It's always a fun surprise.

And as corny as it sounds, sometimes there's tears because people are so overjoyed with how beautiful it is and that I say that sounds corny, it will sound corny to everyone except a quilter probably.

Thank you for watching.

Join us again next season on Common Ground.

If you have an idea for Common Ground in north central Minnesota, email us at legacy@lptv.org or call 218-333-3014.

To watch Common Ground online visit lptv.org and click local shows.

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Production funding of Common Ground was made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji, continuing their second century of service to the community.

Member FDIC.

Common Ground is brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008.

If you watch Common Ground online, consider becoming a member or making a donation at lptv.org.