I find it fascinating that about once a month or more I get an email from someone with questions about round robin quilts. I think the easiest way for me to record my responses to these emails, and inform others, is through this mechanism.
So, for the basics on the round robin quilts, check out my page here: www.margreta.com/round.htm
So, my thoughts on this process from a recent email:
Rules never seem to protect us from relationships.
It is great to be clear about the rules and be clear on the expectations, as best you can. Do you, as a group, want everyone to stay in their regular skill zones and just work on the challenge of fitting their work into the work of others? Do you value technical accuracy more than anything? Do you value challenging yourselves on all fronts? While you can help yourselves by being clear on these things, it won’t protect you from the relationships (or that one person’s definition of accuracy is different than another’s).
Give yourself a little space. If you can work into the design some spacer borders or pieces, you give yourself some breathing space from other people’s expectations and abilities. You may want that space because you personally don’t like what the other person did. You may help the next person in the progression if they aren’t quite happy with what you did.