Circle Templates

Yesterday I talked about designing the quilting for the border and the small blue and white nine patches.  As I work my way down the quilt stitching in the ditch between some of the squares my mind is spinning with ideas on what more I want to add to the quilt. As a side note...I stitch in the ditch to stabilize the quilt as I am working my way down the quilt, this way I can skip quilting the spaces I don't have a clue as to how or what I want to do in them.

So as I am working I finally decided what I want to do in these brown squares.

Feather wreaths!!   I need to start with my center circle. I try out a few circle templates to see what will fit best in the squares. The one I  choose is 1.5". I place a small piece of painters tape on the back to make it just a little sticky just to help me with any shifting as I move the needle around the circle.

Next I need to tack my thread down.

Then stitch around the template. Moving my fingers as I need to keep them out of the way. (Its really hard to take a picture and sew.)

Tada! Circle done. This will become the spine for my feathers.

Now I just fill it the outside of the circle with feathers, think of them like half hearts.

When the outside is finished, fill in the middle.

Hate when my bobbin thread runs out while I am in the middle of a design.

Here is how the two blocks look together.

One row done and several more to go! I just love how quilting transforms a top.