We have a phrase here of ‘doing a round robin’, usually meaning a road trip going from A to B to C to D to get various things done. I never wondered where it came from, well I learnt yesterday that the collective noun for robins is a round, though I’m still not sure how it came to mean a round trip! Mind you, having googled it there’s lots of meanings for the phrase round robin!
At the Harrogate show I bought a metre of very pretty robin fabric, it’s more home furnishing weight really, it was an impulse buy (not like me at all!!) but I decided it would be rather nice for tote bags. I’d got three little presents to make and I decided this would be perfect.
I didn’t want to make the bag just in the robin fabric, mainly because things like handles add a surprising amount to what’s needed. I found in my stash a duckegg blue fabric which coordinated nicely. I usually make my totes 16″ square, I cut the robin fabric to about 10″, leaving the bottom strip in the plain fabric.
I made a simple lining, no pockets or anything as I wanted it to be a fairly lightweight for storing and carrying round. They’re not as round bottomed as they look in the photo, they actually have a gusseted flat bottom!
They were pretty quick to make once I’d worked out what I was doing with the first one, hopefully they’ll like and use them.
I had a couple of strips left over from cutting out which had a couple of robins on. I used one to make a card. My Embroiderers Guild do a Christmas card swop, you make one card, sign it and pop it in the bag and take another one, so everyone gets a nice handmade card. Obviously I wanted something fairly quick so I decided to embroider over the robin.
I just used feather, fly, buttonhole and herringbone stitches, together with a few lazy daisies and some french knots. He was fun to stitch and pretty quick too. I cut him out, frayed the edges and stitched him onto felt which could then be glued to the card.
I wanted to make a little something to slip inside a Christmas card for someone. My original plan was to make a flat decoration, but it was begging to be stuffed!! I just used a little lace, some ricrac and a soft brown cotton with tiny feathers on it. I added the buttons to the corners to hide where the ricrac hanger attaches. I think it’s rather sweet, I’m tempted to make myself one too!
I just need to get everything wrapped and in the post – I haven’t even written my Christmas cards yet!
thecraftycreek 
a great use of your Robin fabric. Tote bags are always great gifts because so useful in this day & age where shops don’t give out plastic bags.
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Oh, the little robin embroidery is lovely!
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I love both the embroidered robin and the small. I’ve seen a similar robin print but resisted buying any – up to now!
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What a sweet gift/card. Well done.
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Hello Margaret, you are so prolific, it’s truly inspiring and your imagination, you certainly made good use of one piece of fabric. Love your little embroidered card what a brilliant idea. The totes and little pillow decoration are lovely. Well done. I need to read your posts early in the morning as I always feel like stitching when I read them and I’ve been reading them late in the evening, which makes me feel I’ve wasted my day. Love your blog. Regards Mandy xx
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Robins are symbols of hope…just look how much brightness they give when we spot our first robin in spring! I love the fabric, and I love your creativeness with it, Margaret! 🙂
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I never knew that the collective noun for robins was round. The meaning I knew or round robin was where you have pieces of work and everyone does something then passes it on, like your travelling stitchbooks. Moving on the robin fabric is so sweet. Love the bags, and the card and the small. I wondered how you attached your lovely pieces of stitching to paper and you answered it, stitch to feltand then glue. Is that how you do travelling stitchbooks? I saw some at the Harrogate show and really admired them, but totally failed to see how peoplehad attached the stitched pieces into the book.
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I think there’s several meanings to a round robin! Re the travelling sketchbooks, some people stitch their piece to the paper, others glue, I usually use glue but quite sparingly.
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I’d never heard the collective noun for robins either. A ’round robin’ to me is when somebody writes news of their year,, makes copies of it and sends the same thing to everybody they know – usually inside a Christmas card. Personally, I’m not keen but each to their own.
If that’s what you can do with a bit of impulse buy fabric, you ought to give in to your impulses more often. I’m sure your tote bags will be appreciated and used – if not for shopping, for storage or as a work bag – they are lovely in that robin fabric.
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Everything is adorable ❤
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I used to tell my 1st and 2nd graders to think and stretch their brains. Your creativity has definitely got me thinking this morning and stretched mine! Simple, creative and lovely. Thank you!
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Whoever gets the robin card you made is very lucky! The little pillow is so sweet also!
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