Playing With Circles in Quilting - For the Love of the Half Circle

This design has been stuck in my head for months and months. I had grand plans of making this quilt for Valentine's Day - for obvious reasons - but work deadlines got in the way of quilting for fun. I found myself with few immediate deadlines this week and a free morning. Et voila!

Beyond the design itself, I also wanted to make this quilt for another reason. I wanted to showcase some half circles in a design. So often I see two quarter circles used when the quilter could have easily made a single block. The construction is exactly the same, so why shy away from half circles? Is it fear? The unknown? Pure comfort with a quarter circle? I know that the final result is the same, but if you can avoid a seam, why wouldn't you?

There were some insanely gorgeous and creative quilts at QuiltCon, for example, that used quarter circles when half circles could have been used easily.  It might just be me, because of my circular predilection, but I think we need to bring the half circle the attention it deserves.

That focus is going to start with a pair of lips. Or hearts, depending on your viewing angle. That was kind of the point with this design. One big smackaroonie. And all the love for a half circle block too.

This quilt is scheduled to be in a quilt show in a month so I better get it off the rocks and under my machine. I see some free motion text in my future.

If you want more details on making a half circle block you can check out my Craftsy class on Inset and Applique Circles by Machine or pick up Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quiltmaking.

Playing With Circles in Quilting - Part 2

Ride the Waves

50'' x70''

Improv curves are fun. In a fit one day last year I pulled out a playful and lovely combination of fabrics and made a whole bunch of blocks. It was just one of those quilts that came to be with no rhyme or reason. I'm pretty sure I had it done in just a couple of days. Then it sat. The moment passed and there was little motivation to finish it.

Then you realize that someone needs a pick me up, a hug as much as possible. And in your head you kind of realize that these fabrics are so her. So her, in fact, that you may have picked them with her in mind. You may have stuck with this size of quilt because it is the perfect size for her.

And then you finish it with big lines of loops because they are fun and everyone deserves a bit of fun. And she deserves a finished quilt so the loops make that happen too. So does binding it among a stack of quilts you feel you just have to get done for Christmas. That way you can give it to her when she most needs it.

Then she texts you that night to say how much it is helping in the dark and lonely moments and you realize that this is indeed why we work hard to make quilts for people we love. This way, love is all around them.

Even her dog approves. Then again, there is no accounting for taste.

The improv curves are easy to do and totally take any mystery out of curved piecing. There really are no mistakes with this technique. You can see that sometimes I doubled up the curves and other times they are just simple. All together they echo quarter circles. Which means you can use them like you would any other Drunkard Path block. I chose a setting that creates diagonal lines of movement across the quilt. Simple, fun, and effective.

Overall, that's what the quilt is - simple, fun, and effective. Design wise, yes. but also in spirit.

All year I am going to be posting more and more circle techniques. This is some time to play with circles and there are so many things to do beyond the basics. Join me for the monthly series, Playing with Circles in Quilting.

If you want more details on making circles or any of the techniques I introduce here, check out my Craftsy class: Inset and Applique Circles by Machine or my workshop in the book, Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quiltmaking.

Playing with Circles in Quilting - Part 1

What happens when you use pieced blocks for your circles?

I've experimented with improv blocks, for both the circle and the background, with good success. This time I wanted to try some precision pieced blocks, to see if there is any difference. I was also interested in testing out the new machine with my trustworthy technique.

These were orphan blocks I found in my closet. I didn't make any of them and, to be honest, I'm not sure where they came from. Perhaps extra donations from the Just One Slab charity quilts? They seemed perfectly appropriate to experiment with.

The small circles were regular appliqué circles. I had some old templates out and they were just the right size. The technique works great, but next time I would just make new templates. My guess is that I set these templates aside because something about them wasn't quite round. Not to mention that freezer paper loses its crispness after a while. As a result, my circles aren't terribly round. But, the idea of this with the pieced blocks works great.

The big blocks were made with the Reverse Circle technique I teach. I thought it best to try this with the big ones for a couple of reasons. One, new freezer paper. And two, I suspected these would end up looking better. The seam allowances of a pieced block don't make the edges of the circle bulky. My suspicions were confirmed. I kind of love these blocks.

If you do use pieced blocks for circles keep in mind that part of your piecing will be cut off. You can lose points of a star, or entire sections of a rail fence. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a design consideration. I actually think it could look cool if you had a quilt of chopped off blocks, but each block was chopped off differently. Or maybe you take an entire quilt top that you don't like, and make circles out of it. Then piece the circle blocks together in the order of where they were cut. It would be like portholes into another quilt. Whatever you cut off are generally useful scraps too, so don't be afraid of wasting fabric.

All year I am going to be posting more and more circle techniques. This is some time to play with circles and there are so many things to do beyond the basics. Join me for the monthly series, Playing with Circles in Quilting.

If you want more details on making circles or any of the techniques I introduce here, check out my Craftsy class: Inset and Applique Circles by Machine or my workshop in the book, Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quiltmaking.