SAHRR Center Block Reveal – Pieceful Thoughts

It’s SAHRR Center Block Reveal Day! Today is the beginning of the 5th annual Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR). Unlike a traditional Round Robin, where the quilt travels from one quilter to another, the SAHRR quilt stays with you. We give you the border to add each week, and you create your own SAHRR quilt. We have enjoyed seeing your creativity as you stitch your quilts together.

Here are the SAHRR co-hosts for 2025:

Anja @ Anja Quilts
Brenda @ Songbird Designs
Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
Gail of @ Quilting Gail – our fearless founder!
Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
and me!

Each week one of us will reveal the border for the week, then you have that week to finish your border and link up to show us your work. The host for the week will also host the linky party, which will be included in her Monday post. Many of you have sewn along with us in the past, so you know the drill, but if you have questions, reach out to one of us and we’ll be happy to help.

This week’s host is Quilting Gail. Gail is the founder of the SAHRR – she dreamt up the idea and asked the rest of us to co-host with her. She keeps us moving forward as we plan each year – thanks so much, Gail! You will need to go read Gail’s post if you haven’t already. She will show her center block, give you updated details on the SAHRR and then, after you have your center block ready, you’ll want to go to her post and link up.

Okay, are you ready to see my center block? Last year, I used a center block that was made by my grandmother, Selma. It became a generational quilt by the time it was done. Grandma made the center block, I used pieces of an apron my mother made, I quilted the borders each week, and my daughter joined in to do a little stitching on it too. You can see the finished quilt here.

Well, I went back to my stash of Grandma’s fabric, and I found some pre-cut diamond shapes. My grandma was a seamstress, so she had quite an eclectic mix of fabric scraps. I don’t know who cut these diamond shapes – it could have been grandma or some of the church ladies. Back then they used cardboard templates, tracing around the shape, and then cutting with a scissors. These shapes were very distorted. I did my best to try to get them uniform in size, but in the end, just decided to go with them as they were.

I have to say, I really wish I had more of that orange/red print! I have no recollection of that fabric, so it must be scraps from clothing Grandma made for someone other than family. I have a finished quilt by Grandma that is this scrappy star design. Each star is raw-edge appliqued using a zig zag stitch, so I thought I’d do the same with my block.

You can see how wonky these diamonds were, but it works. Both prints are from Grandma’s scrap stash. I have added a coping border to the block, and forgot to take a photo of that before adding the first border, so you’ll have to wait until next week to see that.

Okay – now it’s your turn to choose your blocks for SAHRR 2025. I can’t wait to see what you come up with! And don’t forget to pop over to my other co-hosts and see their blocks, too (click on the links above). You might find inspiration and they’d enjoy having you stop by and leaving a comment.

Happy Stitching!

Wendy