Monday, August 1, 2016

Quilty 365 July Circles

After an abysmal June, I'm happy to report that my Quilty 365 Quiltalong circles are back on track and I'm caught up again!  July 31 marked day 266 in this adventure.

An extended power outage several days ago presented an opportunity to cut circles - lots of circles - and I now have enough background squares and circles to take me through the first week of October. At this point I'm pulling random bins of fabric from the stash closet and cutting a circle out of a corner of everything in the bin.  Sometimes two or three circles from the same fabric if there are multiple design elements that can be featured. I figure with an abundance of circles cut ahead of time I can rummage through the pile each day and find one that calls out to be stitched.

Still mulling over a final layout for the eventual quilt, but right now I'm thinking of windowing each square with a narrow contrasting band and setting them on-point.  Working on the math for this option and I'm thinking the on-point setting will increase the quilt size so much that we will end up with one huge king-size quilt plus some leftover circles for a smaller item or two - perhaps matching table/bureau runners or a second lap size quilt.  Decisions!

My last post mentioned the heat and drought we have had this summer.  Later that very day a line of thunderstorms rolled through our area, leaving us a much-needed 1.75 inches of rain!  We are feeling blessed, the garden is looking reinvigorated, and the remaining blueberry crop is ripening quickly. Life is good!

Linking up with Audrey at Quilty Folk where you can see everyone's progress with this fun year-long circling quiltalong.

15 comments:

Dana Gaffney said...

Lovely, I'm glad you used your down time so productively. Yay for rain, plants seem to know the difference of watering and the real stuff.

Debbie said...

love your fabrics and the circle look great anyway you do them. mine are in their box and one day I will get to make a small one of them.

Barbara said...

It's looking great. I like the idea of using different design elements from the same fabric.

gayle said...

Good for you for keeping your circles going! I've dropped the ball on this project completely...
We're in drought, too. The little bit of rain we've gotten in the last few days is greatly appreciated!

Needled Mom said...

I wish we could get some of that rain.

Your circles are so pretty. I think they would look great set on point like that, but they are so pretty as they are too.

Kyle said...

Appliquing circles is a great thing to do when the powers out!

Martha said...

I love this circle project you're creating. So lovely. The background fabrics are perfect to feature all the gorgeous fabric circles!!! So fun!!!!

Karen's Korner said...

I am also at the point of having to think how I am going to put all my circles together. Lovely work.

Paulette said...

Your circles are so lovely. There is something beautifully calm and soothing about them. I like hearing your ideas for setting them. I still don't have a solid plan, but it may be that I just put them all together as is.

Angie said...

What fun to drool over all your circles and background fabrics!

Teresa in Music City said...

Just looking at your beautiful circles makes me itch to get back to mine! We have one more trip for a family wedding to get behind us before I can go back to this project, as well as a few others that had to be set aside. I think we've been getting all your rain! This has been the wettest summer I can remember. The next time it comes, I'll whisper to it that it needs to go visit you for a while :*). After all, blueberries are critical for our happiness!

Cathy said...

I need to get caught up also! But my circles represent the day so difficult to do ahead. Love your circles and your idea of putting them on point and the idea of a BIG quilt!

audrey said...

Lovely to see your progress.:)

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

I love your circles and the lovely background fabrics you are choosing. Mine are being backed on old pillow case material and I'm a bit behind. But I am enjoying this exercise. Happy Stitching!

Lara B. said...

That is one whole lot of circles! I love how they look, especially with the fussy cutting. Your plan for sashing and setting them on point sounds great!
We finally received some much needed rain too. I keep hoping things will cool down soon.