Thursday, October 30, 2008

A CRAYOLA QUILT.....

I have started a quilt project that may possibly take me through the entire winter season. Quilting happens in my family. My grandmother quilted. My Mother quilts. Most women in my family quilt. It must be genetic and it usually starts to happen when the leaves start to turn. We just can't help ourselves!
I went searching for a quilt pattern and discovered that the majority of the quilt patterns involve squares and triangles. The stress of getting tiny triangle points to match up was just more than I could handle. THEN, I found a wonderful quilt pattern site with hundreds and hundreds of quilt patterns, all free and with templates to download! If you are interested in making the same quilt you see here, go to www.quilterscache.com and you will find it on page 36 of the quilt patterns.
I found a quilt that uses circles. No points involved! The purpose of this quilt pattern is to use scraps of fabric that you already have and the whole idea is to try NOT to match fabrics in any way. The freedom of randomness. What a joy! Here are the cotton pieces from my stash, all washed and pressed and ready to become the "Crayola Quilt".
These are the pattern templates for this circle design quilt.
The design is placed on quilt squares measuring 16 1/2 inches and using a dark fabric. I chose black.. Here are the first few circles and the curved diamonds. These are the first four pieces I started with.
This photo shows the back side of the pieces. Each piece will need a piece of interfacing sewn on. Cut a slit in the interfacing and turn the piece inside out. This creates a smooth edge on the pieces.

This is the first finished quilt block. You will notice that the graphics are off center on the black fabric. I think this is because it needs to be that way so that an additional diamond piece can fit correctly between large circles in adjoining blocks. Because of all of the colors, I am using only red for the small circle in the very center. This, along with the black, will be a unifying color. I will need to make 35 more of these blocks if I want a queen sized quilt. What have I gotten myself into? I have to think of this as 36 individual projects. I can manage that! Now, go make a quilt!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow I thought that circles would be harder than straight lines. Women quilted out of needs for blankets. I think people in cooler climates like to quilt because it is cozy to have all of that fabric on laps. Quilting is a wonderful creative outlet for many who think they are not creative. cheers Dee

Anonymous said...

Thanks Dee! I find circles easier.....I don't have to be very precise!