About a month ago when visiting Karen’s blog http://karensquilting.com/blog/ I fell in love with her fossil fern circles that she is making for a quilt. I’ve been wanting to make a circle quilt for years using lots of my Japanese taupe fabrics mostly very old pieces from Kimonos. I made a couple then a couple more and I could not stop. Went back in to Karens blog and read more of what she was doing and realised there is a group making these circle blocks; it is called Quilty 365 circles you make one circle block a day??????? It was started by Audrey
http://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/quilty-365-december-linkup.html
A big thank you Audrey. I’m not sure that I will make one every day for 365 days but I have been making them every day since around the 9th Nov after seeing Karen’s fossil fern ones. SO that makes it almost a month of making these little gems for me. I have cut out just over 60 tiny blocks I’m using the same back ground fabric for all of these ones;
This is the kimono I’m unpicking for my background fabric it is a lightweight fabric which feels like linen grass. Quiet a stiff fabric but must have been lovely and cool to wear. Will try and take a close up of the weave.
and I have also got carried away with cutting out circles most of the the circles I’m using freezer paper to turn the edges over but there are some very very old (may be 80 plus years) fabrics which need something behind them so using wash away feezer-paper there. These will cover me till Jan 2016 if I’m to keep making one circle for each day since I started early Nov LOL. I complete at least one block a day and I just choose one at random and keep changing my mind which ones go together or how to place them on the square LOL. SO Thank you Audrey for a lot of fun over the last month and I’m guessing quiet a few month to come.
Playing with cirlces a passion of mine. Circles I mean LOL Below photo is showing most of the ones I have cut out so far. There are some empty spaces these blocks and circles are beside my sewing chair waiting to be worked on. Very few circles are turned under yet and only about a dozen are appliquéd on to the blocks. I will stop about here I think for now and prep the circles ready for appliquéing them on. DGD saw me playing around with laying them out and she asked if I would make some crescent planets????? She thought they looked like a sola quilt so I have made two crescent moons for her LOL
I’m still playing with these circles. In the group with Audrey they are cutting their square 4 1/2 inches. It is just luck that I cut mine 4 3/4″ Kimono fabric is woven at 14 wide so by cutting them 4 3/4″ I was able to get 3 blocks across the width of the fabric and now that tiny extra will allow for shedding while I make the blocks up and I will cut them back to 4 1/2″ before joining them up in to quilt top. I’m not sure about those orange ones though. I will live with them for a while and see.
A close up of the background fabric Here you can see the different thickness of the threads used to weave this linen grass fabric it looks thick BUT see below.
Here I’m holding the fabric up to the light and you can see right through it, this shows you have light the weight is and how wonderful it must have been to wear in mid summer.
My Beautiful LE has come to a stand still again as I’m not happy with my oak leaves again?????
Some creepy crawlies and whats flowering now in the garden.
He’s a bit like a Wetter ???
Creepy crawlies are back!!!!
Found this tiny beautiful beetle floating in the pool this morning, I rescued him and when he dried out he flew away! Just look at those colours!!!!!
Tiny ground flowers so sweet and old fashion, they are a local ground plant.
These followers are flying around the place at night time by the dozen so I’m glad we have fly-screens but they still manage to fly in.
These are amazing frogs they just curl up any where and don’t care how close you get to them they won’t move this one is sitting on the ironing board?????
He was not to keen on me photographing him LOL
Rather large spider under view ?????
Last weeks bud is slowly opening
Beautiful white lilies in my neighbours garden.
Crazy exotic.
Another flower ball!!!!
Old boys nest gets higher and higher
He makes a hold in the centre each day by pressing the leaves in to the walls around the hole making the walls much thicker and stronger.
The old boy and his mound of leaves behind him by the car wheel.
Turkeys nest is real high now and Jersey is feed up chasing the old boy????
Cheers All Glenda
Oh what a need idea to do the circles with kimono’s! I love that idea and how fun that I influenced you to another quilt LOL I rarely make one a day and tend to prep a bunch and make them all in one weekend then work on other things then do it again usually landing on a weekend it seems to do the stitching. Love seeing all the bugs and plants as usual so different then what we have here.
HI Karen Like I said to you the other day you are leading me astray LOL but it is wonderful to be able to use these lovely scraps of Japanese kimono fabrics I have had for around 30 plus years, they are mostly small pieces so can only be used for appliqué or in wonderful quilt like this. I have made several quilt over the years making 6″ quilt as you go squares using these fabrics but this way they stand on their own more and what fun it is to pull out a pile of fabrics and just randomly cut out circles in different sizes. Hugs Glenda
Your kimono fabrics are wonderful, so full of texture and color nuances, this is going to make a stunning quilt. Looking forward to seeing your progress through the months of this journey.
Dear Pat how nice to meet another quilter, thanks so much for you message and for sharing. It’s great also to meet some one else who is making the 365 circles, I have visited your blog and enjoyed the visit; love what you are doing colour wise with your circles, you are working harder at them than I as my back ground squares are made from the same fabric; I’m unpicking a Kimono and cutting it up for my 4 1/2″ squares. SO far I have 63 cut up, and I think I will need at least 250 plus squares for a single quilt which I’m thinking of. Thats roughly 5 months at least!!!!! Cheers Glenda
I was tempted by the 365 day circle but I have enough going on now and don’t want to start anymore projects. Hopefully you can find a fabric you like for the oak leaves on LE. I enjoy viewing your flowers. Color looks so good to me this time of year. I’ve started potting my Amaryllis bulbs, but it will still be 6 – 8 weeks before they start blooming. Blessings, Gretchen
Dear Gretchen I should NOT be making up another quilt either but HOW I love circles and this is a wonderful way to use up all my lovely lovely scraps of fabrics from Japan which many are to small to use any other way. I think after spending so mach intense appliqué on my LE Centre my mind is enjoying the relaxing time of just sewing a straight line or gentling appliquéing around these lovely pieces of fabric Hugs Glenda
Great idea and colour scheme ! Your quilt will be really gorgeous. Look forward to seeing it !
Dear Sophie so lovely to hear from you. You would NOT believe the enjoyment I’m having pulling all my lovely scraps of Japanese fabrics, I have piles of them and this is such a lovely way to show so many of them together. SO far I have manly been cutting up the cottons and linens but there is a great deal of silks and wools also, I’m not using the same fabrics more than a couple of times. I was just going to make a wall hanging but I can not stop cutting out these wee circles of all sizes just as the whim takes me LOL. Cheers Glenda