Dorry’s Round Robin Quilt, circa 1999.

Imagine my surprise when Dorry Emmer walked up to me before my lecture in Vienna, VA last month.  She had taken my class waaaaay back in 1997, at the National Quilt Symposium in Hamilton, New Zealand.  It was there that she began a  two-year Round Robin project.  Two years later, at the 1999 Symposium in Queeenstown, her group exchanged the completed tops.  Here’s what Dorry has to say about her quilt.

“I am sorry to have taken so long in getting this photo to you – but then again it was last century that I took the class where I made the center!! (It was at the NZ Quilt Symposium in Hamilton in 1997).   My block became the center of a round robin quilt that we started soon after that event. Originally we were a group of six quilters with four living in the Hamilton area of New Zealand and two in Melbourne Australia. We take two years to make our round robin quilts and then all meet up at the next New Zealand Quilt Symposium to show the finished tops and plan to begin the next round robin. Believe it or not we are still going although we have had some changes to the group – three from the original six remain, others have come and gone and we are currently a group of seven (3 from Melbourne, 1 from NZ, 1 from Canada and 2 from here in the USA – some of us have moved!)

This quilt is named The TransTasman Frequent Flyer. Members of the group who made it (in the order they worked on it) were: Dorry Emmer, Kerry Payne, Kirsty Duncan, Judy Hammersla, Renchia Clark, Meryl Caudwell and then, as a Christmas gift Kerry (my sister) arranged for Donna Ward to quilt it for me.

When I was listening to your presentation on October 14 in Vienna, VA for Quilters Unlimited I realized that your idea of the curved flying geese would work well for the current round I am working on in this round robin when I need to make sashing units. What goes round, comes round and back again!   I hope you enjoyed your “tour” in Virginia.

Thanks,  Dorry Emmer

I certainly did enjoy that trip, Dorry!  Meeting you was one of the highlights!