One thing I learned right away about this type of exchange was to expect the unexpected. I joined in this round robin because I love a challenge and am always ready to learn something new. The second round of the exchange did not disappoint. This is Sharon’s top as I received it.

The instructions that Sharon included with this block were to keep it scrappy and really, anything goes. She did not want the original star block to be dead center, so we were to add a wider border to two sides and a more narrow one to the other two.

When I did Becky’s round (see Part 2), I was thinking that her theme and colors were not my style, but when I got Sharon’s, I thought, oh dear. I have never been a patriotic quilter. As much as I am so proud to be an American and blessed to have the fortune to live in this amazing country, I just don’t lean toward using these colors or theme in my quilting palette. But, here it was, an Americana style quilt that I would need to add my own personal touch to for posterity.

I laid it on my table for a while and would look at it whenever I walked into my studio. This is usually what I do when I am waiting for my muse to speak to me. This time, she seemed to be saying that it looked like a flag and needed some movement, like waving in the wind.

I loved the string star in the focus block and thought that I should pull that strip style into my row somehow, so here is my addition to Sharon’s Americana.

Basically, I made a bunch of lopsided log cabin blocks and sewed them together in a way that would make zig-zag rows of “stripes.” It was a lot of fun to do this one and it was pretty easy, once I decided on what I would do.