After seeing the photo edited pics in my last circles post, (which looked decidedly weird), I thought that I would reverse the lights and darks of my latest design to see what it would really look like. So this time my background fabric is a dark red and all the other fabrics are very pale.
I have called this design "Moon Circles" as the applied small circle (I made it slightly larger this time at 1½") is placed right on the edge of the strippy circle creating a crescent. Another change is that I have used invisible thread to sew the background to the strippy square, still using the blind hem stitch on my machine. I was a bit apprehensive about using it after hearing a few horror stories, but it sewed perfectly.
You can read how to do the circles in my posts - Design 1 and Design 2.
My "floating rectangles" block consists of 8 rectangles this time and I have made the background strips that separate the rectangles narrower, cutting them at just ⅞" wide.
The rectangles are first sewn together in one group of two and two groups of three.
I used my scraps for the rectangles so that they ended up at many different sizes, but below is a suggestion of the sizes that each rectangle could be. Add ½" to the width and length when cutting out to allow for two seam allowances.
There are two ways in which the groups of rectangles can be sewn together to make the block. Above I have put the two rectangle group through the centre and below I have put it along an edge.
or you could sew a block with just 7 rectangles as below, just to ring the changes.
This means that you get a bit more variation running through the quilt.
I should have said before, and maybe I have, that all seams are pressed away from the background strips as shown below.
I machine quilted around all the shapes and then I FMQ with stippling on the background around the circles. I'm still not at all happy with stippling and having read Lori Kennedy's blog post on the subject I may now feel that it's just not for me!!
This time I also did some quilting on the circles to see what it would look like. After all with a larger circle in a larger square this would be necessary. I hand quilted arcs and I like the effect.
In this pic you can see my quilting ........... oh dear!
Here is a photo-edited idea of how moon circles would look in a larger version.
Each time I've tried out a new circles design I've also been experimenting with different colour combinations and I'm not so keen on this one. I'm looking forward to design 4 though as I'll be using some of my favourite warm colours.
I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday - I love those stripey socks!!
Happy sewing ..... or knitting - Anita
Each December at Flowerpatch Quilters we have a bit of a Christmas party with nibbles, refreshments and ......... sewing, of course. This year we sewed "Twinchies" which are simply 2" squares of loveliness.
These are some of the cute results after an evening of sewing, chatting, laughing, eating and drinking. As you might anticipate many are still WIPs.
Firstly a Christmas selection
Hearts for the romantics
and lovely others.
So what do you do with a Twinchie?
- Sew or stick to a blank card for an instant birthday / thank you card.
- Sew on to a garment or bag
- Display as a group on a background fabric or in a frame - especially nice if they are themed.
- Make them into a tiny book.
- Tuck into presents or cards for friends and family as a little bit of loving extra. As I popped one or two into presents my man said "I hope you haven't made me a Twinchie!!" - Oops, maybe that wasn't such a good idea!
Before the evening I made up lots of Twinchie blanks for those who wanted to get straight on with embellishing without having to neaten the edges with blanket stitch or similar first. I think they look cute even before embellishing! :) ... and it made me want to get stitching immediately.
I thought you might be interested to read how I made these up because although it seems like a simple task I did chew up the edges of quite a few before I settled on this method.
To make 9 Twinchie blanks
Cut two squares of different coloured fabric 7" square and a piece of thin wadding the same size (I used curtain interlining).
Mark the lighter fabric (I used a Frixion pen which disappears after ironing) with squares of a smidging over 2". Start by drawing two outer lines a little way in from the edges of the fabric and at right angles.
Sew along each side of the middle lines with a short length, narrow width, zigzag stitch. Normally I would use a lighter thread on top and a darker thread in my bobbin. This top thread is a little too dark but I want you to be able to see the stitches.
Sew around the edge inside the marked line with the same zigzag stitch.
Cut along the marked lines and iron to remove the pen marks on the edges.
Below are the four twinchies that I made before our meeting
and two that I've sewn since. Launceston Castle was made as a gift for a friend who is off to live in the warmth of Spain.
Earlier this month it was the annual Tree Festival in St Marys in Launceston. Flowerpatch Quilters make decorations to hang on our tree and this year Dawn designed sweet quirky mice with long noses, and also bells.
The church looked beautiful.
Still on a Christmas theme (and as this may be my last post before the 25th) I found Rudolf wandering in our garden recently.
He looked so cold, poor "dear", that I brought him indoors to keep him warm until Christmas Eve.
I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, although I think my Twinchies finish at even smaller than Amanda Jean's lovely tea-pouches! :)
Happy Christmas - Anita x
PS The next Flowerpatch meeting is on Thursday 11th January when we will be sewing the blocks together for our Rainbow Quilt - this year's charity quilt.
Oh! What fun I'm having with my 6 minute circles!
Here is Design 2 and I think I will call it "Keyhole Circles".
This time I have added a strip of background fabric to my strippy circle dividing it into two. I cut this strip 1" wide - the same width as the strips between the floating rectangles.
I made my blocks 4" (+ seam allowance) again this time so the strippy square and the background square and the freezer paper square are all 4½".
I have a tutorial in this post about how to do the 6 minute circles, but this time I've changed the way that I sewed the background circle to the strippy square - I used my blind hem stitch. I think it gives a neater finish and my circles appear more ............... circular. I have shown the back so that hopefully you can see the stitches.
After sewing the circle of background fabric to the strippy square I have placed the small 1¼" circle at the centre of the background strip. I sewed this on with the same blind hem stitch going really slowly and stopping to turn my work every few stitches.
I tried a few ideas out for the alternate blocks, but mostly they looked too fussy and distracted from my circles, so I have used the "floating rectangles" again as in my earlier post.
After machine quilting around all the shapes with my walking foot, I have FMQ on the background with randomly placed, wavy horizontal lines - Yes! they are meant to be wavy! :). Horizontal this time because they fitted more easily with the keyhole design.
I bound my mini quilt with the colour that looked a bit dominant in my circles.
I have been playing around with my designs in my Photoscape editing.
This pic gives me some idea of how the designs would look if the background fabric is darker than all the other fabrics
and this pic shows how the designs might look as a bed size quilt with 8" or 9" blocks:
See-Through Circles
and Keyhole Circles
I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday
Enjoy your sewing play - Anita x
As usual Flowerpatch Quilters latest meeting was full of interest and included an inspiring talk by Penny O'Connor.
Penny told us that she has been sewing from a young age and has always wanted to work in art and textiles. She has studied many different techniques including fabric screen printing, dyeing, spinning and weaving to name just a few. After many happy years teaching Penny moved to Cornwall and now her love is machine and hand embroidery. One of her designs came about after observing her hens - they hated getting their feet wet!
Other animals quickly followed - some quirky
and others simply beautiful.
I really like this new design
and of course we have to include Christmas at this time of year.
These two pics show the myriad of items that Penny brought along for us to enjoy. She calls her free motion embroidery "just scribbling" - I only wish I could "scribble" as creatively!
Thank you Penny for such an interesting and friendly evening.
We also had our swiftly dealt with AGM and gave ourselves a pat on the back for raising £3000 for Cornwall Blood Bikes with our quilt raffle, etc. Monica B had made a table runner and 4 place mats in the same design and these were raffled among the members who had helped to make the quilt. Julia was the lucky winner. We chose our charity for 2018 and it is Guide Dogs.
There is a change of date for Flowerpatch's December meeting - it is a week earlier on Thursday 7th December. Please bring along some nibbles. We will be making Twinchies - 2" squares of loveliness, so please also bring sewing kit, fabric scraps, beads, buttons, embroidery threads, etc. - whatever you have at hand. As you've probably heard many times before - "here are some I made earlier!"
Happy Stitching
Anita x
I've only recently discovered 6 minute circles and I'm feeling a tad excited about my first attempts to make something with them.
This is design 1 and I intend to add other similar designs in the coming weeks / months. These are still in my head or on scrappy slips of paper at the moment.
There are just two alternating blocks in this first design and each block finishes at 4" + seam allowance. Of course this can easily be scaled up when making something larger.
There are some very good tutorials online about 6 minute circles, but I do like to do my very own mini tutorial.
This is all you need to make the circle block.
- A 4½" square made from strips of fabric - I sew the widest strips on the edges.
- A 4½" square of background fabric - I'll call this background fabric but it's actually in the foreground!
- A 4½" square of freezer paper with a 3" circle cut out
- Sewline or similar fabric glue.
Iron the freezer paper onto the back of the background fabric, then cut out the centre approx ½" inside the paper curve. I fold the background fabric right sides together to do this more easily and neatly as I want to use this centre fabric later on.
Cut slits in the fabric edge almost to the paper edge, then press these tabs over the paper template with an iron.
Put a little fabric glue on the tabs, then place the background fabric on top of the fabric strips matching the outside edges of the block.
Now it's just a matter of sewing around the circle on the background fabric, as close to the edge as possible. I use a short stitch length to help me get around the curve more easily and evenly.
Trim the excess from the strips fabric while the freezer paper is still attached - this avoids accidents with the scissors such as cutting into the background. Then simply remove the freezer paper template.
Now for that piece of fabric that I cut from the centre of the circle. I made a circular cardboard template 1¼" in diameter and drew around this on the back of the fabric piece. Then I hand stitched around outside the marked circle with a small running stitch and gathered it up enclosing the cardboard template. Pressed with an iron, removed the cardboard, gathered up again and pressed again.
This small circle can be placed anywhere within the stripey circle
And here it is sewn in place.
I call the alternate block "floating rectangles" as I hope they look like they are floating on the background fabric next to the circles.
I just used scraps from my stash for this block so my rectangles are all sorts of different sizes, but if you want to use set sizes I suggest that you cut four rectangles which measure 2" x 2", 3" x 2", 3" x 3" and 3" x 2" and a length of background fabric measuring 1" x 10". When you sew up the block you'll find that it comes out larger than the finished 4½" but if you're a wonky sewer like me this is a real advantage as it can be trimmed to shape.
Here are the two blocks side by side.
Here are my 9 blocks pieced together
And here they have been layered up and simply quilted around the circles and rectangles using my walking foot on my sewing macine.
Finally I decided to free motion quilt on the background fabric with varyingly spaced vertical...ish straight.....ish lines to really make the shapes pop and I bound my mini quilt with some of the fabrics already used in the design.
I haven't thought of a good name for my design yet ....... possibly "see-through circles"?
I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday
Happy Sewing
Anita x
