The Whole Watermelon

>> Thursday, September 8, 2011

Last week I showed a "slice" of my solids swap quilt, and now I can show the whole thing. While I finished it a few days ago, the weather has been most uncooperative for getting decent pictures. But I finally found a door that receives enough light on a grey, rainy day to snap a few photos.

After I created the improv quilt, I opted to add a little more wonkiness via circles. Dan's quilt definitely provided the inspiration, though in the spirit of improv + wonky, I wanted the circles to be not quite a perfect 360. Luckily, that was pretty easy to achieve! The innermost circle consists of alternating strips of my partner's favorite colors.

To balance the pieced circles, I also quilted in circles. This might be my new favorite quilting design, and a cardboard circle template was my best tool: I cut out a circle (after tracing a glass onto a piece of cardboard) and taped the cardboard onto the quilt sandwich. Then I placed my presser foot against the cardboard and basically "traced" the circle while stitching. After that, I moved outward at regular intervals and continued to use the previous circle as my guide.

The back -- which again uses my partner's favorite colors -- shows off the circle quilting really well. The empty circle in the middle will become the label, but I didn't want to write my partner's name before taking pictures.

This palette is not my regular go-to sort of color scheme, but I'm confident my partner will be happy with it, and it's fun to play with colors that I don't usually use.

The black binding was not originally planned, but once I used it in the pieced circle, I knew it was the perfect way to frame the mini-quilt. I'm really happy with how it works as the binding; it stands out from the rest of the quilt and creates a clear border. I think it helps focus the improv/wonky piecing in a visually pleasing sort of way. I'll send this mini-quilt, the pouch, and some other little goodies off to my partner tomorrow.

10 comments:

~Michelle~ September 8, 2011 at 11:52 PM  

Oh wow, this looks great! I'm diggin' the circle quilting. And though I have no idea who your swap partner is, I get the feeling you nailed this one!

Leanne September 9, 2011 at 8:54 AM  

This quilt is stunning, your partner is so lucky!

Karissa September 9, 2011 at 3:11 PM  

Nice! I really like the quilting on this one, too--simple, but really effective!

Sewjournal September 9, 2011 at 8:52 PM  

I really like your colour choices.

Anonymous September 9, 2011 at 9:00 PM  

This is just gorgeous. I loved it the first time I saw it, and it's even better now with the circles and the quilting. Your partner is very lucky!

Dan R September 12, 2011 at 4:15 PM  

Beautiful. Love the wonky circles!

Faith Jones September 12, 2011 at 4:51 PM  

Wow, that is so cool! I LOVE the circles!

Jessica September 13, 2011 at 11:34 PM  

oh man, I love yours the very very very most. I know I asked for wonky/ improv, but I'm not sure exactly what colors... whoever gets it is very lucky!! and I love your idea for using a cardboard circle, I will have to try that.

Debbie September 15, 2011 at 6:21 AM  

Your project is very nice! Just so unusual and lovely! Your partner will be thrilled!

  © Blogger template Autumn Leaves by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP