6 Minute Circles - Design 3 - Moon Circles

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