Ostrich Round Robin

I am participating in an "ostrich" round robin in one of my on-line groups. The idea is a round robin quilt that never leaves your possession, so you don't have to worry about not getting your top back. Kim at peachquilting.com has set this up, and is dictating the themes for each round.









I started with an orphan block for my center. I absolutely love that block and the colors in it. It was only six inches in size to start out with. It was a copy in miniature of a swap block that I made for somebody in 2005. I foundation pieced the triangle arcs on this block, since each quarter of the block is only three inches finished size.

The challenge began when I received guidelines for the first round. The theme is "boxed in". I think the hardest part was deciding how to interpret this. My idea was to make it look like my center block was in the bottom of a box, if you were looking into an open box from above. I'm not sure I like the proportions of the "box flaps", but I thinkI can live with it.



Round two is called "Binary". The rule is only use two fabrics. I know nothing about binary code except that it uses ones and zeros. So, that is what I decided I needed for this border.

I wish I understood the language of the code, so that I could have had the border actually say something with purpose. I do like my choice for the idea, but I am having doubts about the final result of this round. My issue is the scale. I am wondering if I would like it better if I made the entire border in half the size. I am a bit hung up on the fact that my border is half as wide as my original center block. And Iam wondering if that takes too much focus away from the center, which I want to shine. But, the third round has been given, so if I am going to redo this round, I need to get right on it. I don't want to get behind.

I am now in the process of designing my next round. It is supposed to use either piecing or applique, whichever I did not use in the center of the top. So for me that means applique. I am pretty sure I want to put my quilt on point for this round, surrounded by the white-on-white fabric I used in round two. But, I have no idea what my applique design will be. I will need to do a little thinking on that for a while. I have made a paint drawing of my top as it would look before the applique (more or less). I think putting it on point actually helps the box round look better. But I am still uncertain about the scale of the binary round.