Sunday, February 7, 2016

Rule Breaking Quilt

Here are another 7 circles for my Quilty 365 circle quilt, where I supposed to make a circle a day. 


Last week, I made an HST block as a background.  Due to my method of making them, I made 2 at the same time.  I used one of them last week.  When it came to this week though, I started thinking about my rules for this quilt. Am I allowed to use the same exact background for more than one block? It actually took me a while to think about it.  It finally occurred to me that I had been repeating backgrounds all along, so why not the same pieced background?  I've also repeated fabric for the circles so I am not sure why I had to worry about the rules for this one.

When it came to deciding what circle to put on it, I found this pieced scrap I had recently cut from the rail fence quilt, which I will show you tomorrow.  I wanted to use it up so I did. This is
Block 67, not 66, because I finished it after the one I am showing you next. I wanted to tell its story first so you knew my mindset this week.


Block 66: I saw this layout for a drunkard's path block on another blog and decided to add it to this quilt. This is a tiny block which needs precision piecing.  I often go back and forth between precision piecing and improv, though not usually very successfully.  This is a tiny block - cut 4 inches so each quadrant had to be correspondingly small.

There was a tiny gather in one of the pieces and instead of fixing it, I decided to make more!  Who said the background had to be flat? I'm all about breaking rules.  Once I trimmed this block to the proper size, the gathers, which are in the light fabric, are not very noticeable.


Block 68: This fabric was the backing of the Elephant improv quilt, and was looking messy as it had a batting scrap attached to it.  I cut away the batting, and used up the fabric.  I didn't realize until I put it with the previous row how close it is to the block in which I already used this fabric.


 Block 69:  This is leftovers of block 66. There were four pieces with the red and white strips pieced together.  Instead of piecing the four strips, I appliqued them onto the background. The vertical lines are pieced, the horizontal lines are appliqued.


Block 70: I showed this one to you yesterday.  It is a quilt sandwich with lines of embroidery stitches going through it. I satin stitched it to the background.


Block 71: During a walk near an elementary school, I saw a pink disk on the ground. It had a heart cut into it.  Was it an eraser, or some plastic disk?  It was flat and I thought it would make a perfect addition to the quilt, much like the found button I used earlier in the project. As I was about to pick it up, Zeus marked it, and I decided that maybe a fabric reproduction would be better.


Block 72: I finally realized that I was breaking rules all this week, and thought about other ways I could break the rules. What rules have I not broken?  Well, all of my blocks have a backing and a circle placed on it.  How about a backing that already has circles, so I don't need to place anything else on it!


Here they are all together. Not a lot of light backgrounds in this row. I need to find and cut some more.


Here is how they will look with the previous rows. I cannot attach these to the previous row yet until I make the next few circles.

[edited to add this next photo: I missed a row! This is what it looks like with the previous rows:]




If you can think of other ways I can break the rules, please let me know!

5 comments:

Kaja said...

I LOVE how this project is evolving: this set of circles are my favourites so far. And I like your attitude.

Quilt crazy said...

How about some of us sending you circles to add to your project. Hughesjeanne @hotmail.com

Lisa J. said...

I'm sure you'll find more ways of breaking the rules. I'm just in the process of learning to set rules for improv.

Jennie in GA said...

Interesting fabrics and I love the heart!

June D said...

Awesome!