{Circles}
First off, thanks to all of you who shared how you can relate to having "one of those days." I almost didn't post yesterday, but I'm so glad I did. Not only was it therapeutic; it was real. I'm so glad to have the freedom to be myself here!
Ready for more of those circles?
This month, in the faith circle of do. Good Stitches, Kelsey is creating a quilt for a brand new set of boy twins. The family is one of those generous sorts that have very little and still gives so much. I'm honored to have the chance to bless them!
Kelsey asked me to make a large block of my choice for the back of the quilt. What a treat! I decided to work some circles out of my system using Anna Maria Horner's tutorial for "super circles". My blocks are 8.5" in the color scheme Kelsey designed on Kona snow.
I must be running low on fabric (wink!) cause I hardly had enough non-girlie prints in these colors. But, I think I made it work...
Yesterday morning (after that lovely weeding. Don't forget. I always want points for weeding...) I made up the circles using a template cut from tracing a small plate on a cereal box. Anna Maria's "super circle" method involves cutting a precise circle template in the desired circle size. Then, you cut an imprecise circle from fabric, about 1/2" larger than the template. Using a piece of foil larger than the fabric, you layer all three - foil, fabric (wrong side up), template. Then, you wrap the foil around the template, taking care to pull very tightly all around the edges. Last you press the foil/fabric sandwich, to create a circle with turned-under edges that's ready to applique. Of course, you reuse the template indefinitely and you can reuse the foil about 3 times!
Once I got past worrying that the foil would somehow melt onto my iron, I cranked that sucker all the way up. I found I had to press each circle for longer than expected to really set the shape. And, in the end, my circles weren't absolutely perfect, but I wonder if they ever are? At least this method was relatively fast and easy. The blanket stitch was very effective at hiding small circle irregularities - hence my happiness last night!
Thanks, Kelsey! This was a great way to get my circles in. Wondering about Loulouthi quilt plans? Well, I decided on the "Loulouthi Tiles" version of my quilt. The clincher for me was that we'll really be able to see the full print repeats in that design, as opposed to the circle version. Plus, there was more interest in the tiles, so that mattered too. I'lll be finalizing some things on the quilt design today. More soon!
Ready for more of those circles?
This month, in the faith circle of do. Good Stitches, Kelsey is creating a quilt for a brand new set of boy twins. The family is one of those generous sorts that have very little and still gives so much. I'm honored to have the chance to bless them!
Kelsey asked me to make a large block of my choice for the back of the quilt. What a treat! I decided to work some circles out of my system using Anna Maria Horner's tutorial for "super circles". My blocks are 8.5" in the color scheme Kelsey designed on Kona snow.
I must be running low on fabric (wink!) cause I hardly had enough non-girlie prints in these colors. But, I think I made it work...
Yesterday morning (after that lovely weeding. Don't forget. I always want points for weeding...) I made up the circles using a template cut from tracing a small plate on a cereal box. Anna Maria's "super circle" method involves cutting a precise circle template in the desired circle size. Then, you cut an imprecise circle from fabric, about 1/2" larger than the template. Using a piece of foil larger than the fabric, you layer all three - foil, fabric (wrong side up), template. Then, you wrap the foil around the template, taking care to pull very tightly all around the edges. Last you press the foil/fabric sandwich, to create a circle with turned-under edges that's ready to applique. Of course, you reuse the template indefinitely and you can reuse the foil about 3 times!
Once I got past worrying that the foil would somehow melt onto my iron, I cranked that sucker all the way up. I found I had to press each circle for longer than expected to really set the shape. And, in the end, my circles weren't absolutely perfect, but I wonder if they ever are? At least this method was relatively fast and easy. The blanket stitch was very effective at hiding small circle irregularities - hence my happiness last night!
Thanks, Kelsey! This was a great way to get my circles in. Wondering about Loulouthi quilt plans? Well, I decided on the "Loulouthi Tiles" version of my quilt. The clincher for me was that we'll really be able to see the full print repeats in that design, as opposed to the circle version. Plus, there was more interest in the tiles, so that mattered too. I'lll be finalizing some things on the quilt design today. More soon!