SAHRR 2026 • Border Two

We Stay-At-Home Round-Robiners are now on Border Two, and the prompt, from Kathleen McMusing was ““Make It A Double.”

I carried this fully into my life when we decided to rip out the ceiling in the main bathroom and get rid of the fluorescent lights (replaced with LEDs) AND, making it a double, decided to revamp the garage laundry room. Here’s the before and after. We also ripped out the linoleum flooring, and I kind of like the rough, crazy pattern, so we’re leaving it for now. I can only do just so much doubling in one week.

So while hammering, sawing, sheet-rocking, mudding, painting, electrical stuff was going on, I was trying to concentrate on the week’s SAHRR prompt. Kathleen suggested blocks with the word or idea of double. So I created a double block border:

I was inspired by Yvonne’s border last week, with how she spaced out the hourglass blocks, and decided to try something similar. Just sort of simple: a double-block spaced out with low-volume strips. And then I made up a PDF Tip Sheet for you all. Underneath this illustration is a PDF file to download:

(Click to download the PDF file.)

But, yeah. Not quite happy with stopping there, and I remember that Kathleen DID say to make it a double, so I went on to think about a second border — a doubling up on this round.

I worked up a little sketch in my Affinity Designer program (free, from Canva), kind of thinking about the idea of round robins and going around the neighborhood. I used to teach at a lot of Quilt Guilds in Southern California (where I live), from Before Covid Time and Through Covid, and taught this pattern to a lot of guilds:

I pinned it up on my design wall, and kept it there while I worked on the houses. These are slightly bigger than what’s in my pattern (but the instructions are all in there, plus a version of Far Away Doors). But this version needed a tree, or four. So in the free tip sheet above, are instructions for some of the trees in this border, too.

I have a climbing tree, and a nesting tree, and a pine tree in the Tip Sheet.

In process. Remember last week when my husband said it was wild, and I said it was going to get wilder? Yep.

Here’s where I left it. I will sew the neighborhood to the slender green border, but I’m missing something for that upper corner. I had an idea (see the sketch at the top of the post), but after a week of double-construction and double-double borders, I was ready to let it rest, and see what our prompt is for Week Three.

The schedule:
*January 14: Center Blocks, led by Gail and shared by each co-leader
*January 21: 1st Round:   Brenda @ Songbird Designs
*January 28: 2nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
February 4: 3rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11: 4th Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
February 18: 5th Round:  Gail @ Quilting Gail
February 25: 6th Round:  Anja @ Anja Quilts
[An asterisk* means I finished that section.]

Two remaining thoughts:

I was also thinking about neighbors and neighborhoods and was impressed with how carefully and quickly the Minnesotans came to stand by each other as they are going through these difficult times. And we were asked to take dinner to a friend whose husband grabbed the business end of a live 220-volt electrical wire; they are also going through difficult times. I’m trying to be a good neighbor where I live.

Lastly, I saw Yvonne’s SAHHR2 version just quickly (l’m looking forward to reading all of your posts in the next couple of days), and think I just want to hang up my quilting tools and become a devoteé of Yvonne — hers is fabulous! Can’t wait to see what you all are doing.