Thinking about Circles

As I have mentioned, I am teaching a quilt sampler class based on my series of tutorials. The class teaches much more than the tutorials offer, including dissecting blocks and quilts so students can think about construction and try things without having to buy a pattern every time* they want to play a little bit.

One of my students is looking at tile and other non-fabric designs and thinking about them in terms of making the design into a quilt. I am thrilled.

She sent me a design this week that she has been thinking about. I didn’t get all the straight lines lined up, but you get the idea. I thought of the Sew Kind of Wonderful QCR ruler** and how the designers of those patterns have you make units with straight lines and then cut them up.

I thought about that for awhile and think that it would be a good way to construct the block overall. However, I had to figure out how how to get the Orange Peel joined into the circle.

Since I got the Clammies for my birthday from Gerre and my SIL, I decided I would try them out. I played around for awhile cutting circles and trying to figure out how the Clammy** worked. I was moderately successful once I figured out the seam allowances. I look forward to watching her videos and getting more expert instruction on using the Clammy. I wasn’t able to watch the videos while I was playing, because I was at Craft Night.

I decided that I would worry about dividing the circle later and would start with a circle and an orange peel. I figured I can always break up the shapes later.

I kind of like the possibilities for this shape. It could be a ‘phases of the moon’ type quilt design.

After some fabric wasting, I found that I was ready to cut out some circles and orange peel. I had high hopes that I would be successful.

WRONG! I got the basics, but don’t have enough seam allowance for the orange peel to fit exactly and complete the circle.

Hhhmm. I decide that my next step would be to cut the orange peel with the larger Clammy and see if that works. I suspect Latifah did not anticipate this design and one Clammy cannot be used to cut these pieces. I am keeping an open mind.

Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*N.B. I am not trying to put independent pattern designers out of business. I am not advocating copying the designs of others in order to avoid paying them. I often buy patterns since it is easier than redrawing complex designs myself. I find, however, like with Ring Toss that I didn’t need the pattern once I had the templates. Also, I just wanted to try it and was glad I hadn’t spent more money since I didn’t end up doing anything with the design. Knowing how to deconstruct a block or a quilt improves creativity in quiltmaking.

 

 

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