Modern Circles and Squares Quilt

 

It's finished! This queen sized modern circles in squares quilt is done. It may be my favorite quilt so far. I based it off of this baby quilt I made last year and made it bigger and better. You can't see the quilting in this far view, but the quilting is the best part.

 



I thought I'd take you through the process, in case you'd like to make one for yourself!

 

First, decide on how many blocks and what sizes of circles you'd like. For the baby quilt my circles were smaller, but for this one I made 5, 7 and 9 inch cardboard circles.

Next, put the circles on fabric squares and rough cut about 3/4 inch around the whole circle. Cut slits around the circle so the edges will bend nicely, but not very deeply. Then get a piece of tinfoil and layer it like this: tinfoil, then fabric, then cardboard circle. Quickly fold the tinfoil over all the way around and press it flat. Iron well.

And when you unfold the tinfoil, voila! A perfect circle to applique. Continue until all circles are ready.

Applique all of your circles to blocks in random places until all blocks are ready. Then sew together in rows, as desired.

You're ready to start quilting. I didn't mark any circles to quilt, I just eyed it and made as many circles around each as I felt like. I tried to go slowly and treat each block as its own mini-quilt. I did mark straight lines by rubbing a ruler back and forth to make an indent to follow.

 

I added a heart to this one (above). For fun. I used embroidery floss when I quilted inside the circles.
 
This one I quilted as a guitar. Five string. See it?






 The back was red, so it made it's own reverse image and was just as cool as the front!