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If I could make myself focus on one project at a time this one would be done already. But that's not my nature. My fabric business keeps me really busy (and I like that) but I try to set aside an an hour every day to do something and I let my mood decide what that that thing is. The marbles quilting requires me to be "on". I can do mosaic a bit tired and I can applique in front of the TV but the marbles have to be done when I'm able to focus. That's why they are a bit slow coming along but I am just fine with that. Someone asked last week if I plan these out. I wish! I think we all know by now that I'm not good at planning my quilting. So with these I do keep track of what I've done but I don't really plan them. Maybe that's one reason they are taking so long to do! Here are the latest 6.  8 segments, skip 3 with a wavy ruler  10 segments, skip 1 with 1.5" circle  9 sections, skip 2 with straight edge for the outside frame. use the intersection points to do the inside with the pointy end of an oval, also skipping 2  15 segments, skip 2 with 2" circle  Oh my gosh, I love this one! 7 sections, drafting ruler, skip 3 using the ruler on both sides of the hopping foot  5 sections, skip 1 with 3.5" circle  Time for a few more marbles! The thing about this quilt is that it's turning into a wonderful "class" for me. By making myself do something different in each of the 100+ circles I'm having to explore some things that I might not otherwise. Like this heart template that I've had in my collection "forever" and possibly have never used. It turns out that it's a pretty good ruler!  21 sections, skip 8 using the soft curve side of the heart.  12 sections, skip 5 using the deeper curved side of the heart ruler  15 sections, skip 2 using the deep side of a narrow oval ruler  4 sections, skip 1 using both the soft and deep curve sides of oval rulers  21 sections, off center, skip 5 with 2 circles  9 sections, skip 2 with a circle and oval  Here's a peek at how they are looking on the quilt. I'm in love!
Let's sneak in a few more marbles this week! These 6 make me 46% done with the small circles.  10 segments. I worked this one from opposite sides of the circle connecting the side point to 7 other points using a flat oval.  Seriously, this is one of my favorites so far. The center is offset and there are 9 segments. Using 3 circles skip 5 spaces.  8 segments, skip 3 using 3 different circles  16 segments and mark the lines through the block, skip 5 with the oval and then do the center star skipping 7 spaces  This is a repeat of a motif I did earlier except this one is done with more segments: 14. Using a 2" ruler making sure the ruler line is lined up with the mark on the outside and the center seam point. You have to travel along a previously stitched line to travel over to the next segment line.  5 segments skipping 1 using 2 rulers. One is the 2" circle and the other is the tip end of an oval  This shows how the 2" ruler was used on this motif. Yes, I have a second post of marbles this week! I have 90 small marbles and 19 large marbles. With this 6 I have 36 of the 90 small marbles done or 40% of the small marbles. Let's get to it.  18 segments, 7" ruler, skip 7 counterclockwise  8 segments, wide oval ruler on both edges (fat edge and skinny edge) going around twice and finish off with scalloped border  14 spaces, use pointy end of a narrow oval ruler skipping 2 spaces  18 segments set off center, skip 5 spaces with a circle ruler  15 segments, 2 rulers, skip 5 spaces and travel to the next space with the scalloped edge  7 segments, skip 2 with 2 different oval rulers I hope you don't mind seeing the quilted marbles because there are a total of 119 of them! I'm also not the fastest quilter in the world....because I get distracted. But I will eventually get all of them quilted. Here are 6 more.  18 segments (ignore the reference to the Circleliner, This one was the Tri-Liner). I extended the markings to a 1" circle in the center and quilted with a 5.5" circle ruler. Starting at the tip of a petal I quilted to next line over on at the center circle and then to the next line over at the edge, continuing all the way around.  14 segments. This one is confusing to follow and explain. I stated with 2 points opposite of each other, look where the ruler arrow points for the starting point. I stitched 2 petals to the left and to the right of that point then I stitched straight across the circle and did the same from that point. Next I marked in between those 2 on the opposite edges and did the same. That may not make sense and it's possible that I wouldn't be able to duplicate it!  Simple! 3 segments, 4 rulers for the inside lines and 3 rulers for the outside lines.  10 segments, skip 5 (so quilting directly across) using 2 rulers and traveling one segment to continue the pattern.  The camera flattens these colors out horribly. I assure you that this shows well in real life! 9 segments, skip 5 with 3 circle rulers.  3 segments, 3 Boomerang rulers and straight edge, I traveled around the triangle using each ruler on both sides of the ruler foot. The center divisions required stitching back over the lines. I'm enjoying documenting all of my Spirograph-like motifs on my quilt. In many of these photos it appears that the stitching doesn't show well. Trust me, they do show up. The thread is very shiny but the camera is flattening it out. Last week Carolyn asked what I'm using to mark the circles. I use a mechanical chalk pencil like this one. Most of the chalk marks come off with the stitching but the rest will wash out easily. Let's get on with today's marbles:  This one is hard to explain. I marked 15 points on the outside and 15 points on a small center circle. Using the circle ruler I connected and outer point to the corresponding point on the center circle and the stitched to the next point over on the outer circle. At the end I connected the center points with a small circle. I'm not totally thrilled with the outcome but I"m treating this quilt as a sampler so this design stays with all of the rest.  12 points, 8 x 3 oval ruler, skipping 5 using the ruler on both sides of the ruler foot. I used the tip to scallop the edges.  9 sections, straight edge and 2 circles skipping 4 spaces  5 sections, 7 rulers skipping 1 space  12 sections, outside motif uses 3.5" ruler skipping 4 spaces, inside uses 7 points skipping 2.  This is my favorite of today's batch. 7 sections with 2 rulers (I left a circle ruler out of the photo) the finished off by echoing the edge. I'm steadily making progress on my marbles. As you might imagine it's tedious work that also requires a lot of focus so I generally work on it about an hour at a time. I also do my share of ripping out stitches when things don't line up quite right. But it's fun and I'm keeping at it. Here are 6 more:  9 segments, skip 5 spaces, a circle and an oval ruler with 2 passes of each, one on each side of the ruler foot...for a total of 4 passes  5 segments, skip 1 with 4 different circles and the 2 largest circles to create the edge  21 segments, skip 4 with the narrow end of an oval ruler  16 spaces, skip 6 with straight edge, create center diamond and ruffle edge with small circle templates (Pro Circles from Lisa Calle)  14 spaces off center, skip 5 with a circle ruler.  21 spaces, skip 4 with pointy end of oval ruler. One round does half then travel over one spot to do the same again. Finish with tip of oval to create the rest of the edge. More marbles quilted this week!  Divided into 6 segments and used the tip of 3 ovals in each segment. The circle finished off the edge.  10 segments, skip 4 places using 2 rulers.  21 segments, skip 5 places using 1 ruler  8 segments, using 1 ruler in each segment. This one was a pleasant surprise!  15 segments, 1 ruler for the inside skipping 7 segments, another ruler for the edge  12 segments, skip 5 with 1 ruler for the outside and 1 ruler for the inside skipping 5. This one shows the difference you get stitching on the outside of the ruler foot vs the inside of the ruler foot. I'm sure as time goes on I'll have plenty of duplicates. I'm not working very hard to avoid duplication. I'm just trying to try different things and I'm having fun and that's all that matters!
 Divide in 10ths, large circle for interior design, small circle for the edge. Skip 4 segments to the left. Quilt 5 points then travel one space and quilt the other 5 points and then travel around the edge of the rest of the motif. From the minute that I started making this quilt I knew that I wanted to do Spirograph quilting in the circles. I bought every circle and oval ruler from Quilter's Apothecary so that I'd have every possible curve. Quilter's Apothecary is the only place I know of that has every circle size in 1/2 inch increments. They also have a wonderful set of ovals. Then a couple of years ago I found Sue Heinz and her Circleliner series of marking tools. Her tools make is easy to divide circles into increments of 3, 4, 5 and 7 so I can divide a circle into 6, 15, 21, 16 and lots of other increments. With these tools I was ready to get started.  Lost My Marbles quilt top For reference here's the quilt top right after I finished it in February 2015. Every one of those 109 circles will have a Spirograph type design. In this series of posts I'll share each motif I quilt and show the rulers I used to get that design. These aren't meant to be tutorials. If you've played with a Spirograph you will be able to figure it out on your own. Today I'm posting my first 6 designs. Only 103 left to go!  12 divisions, quilted with complete circles lined up in the outside mark and the center of the circle.  16 divisions, soft curve oval ruler, skipping 7 sections - they aren't perfect but they are close enough  10 divisions, 2 circles skipping 3 sections  They don't have to be centered! 16 segments, straight ruler skipping 7 sections  6 segments, 2 ovals skipping 3 sections so that the edge has to be used to travel. Used the same 2 rulers on the edge.
Yep. I'm going to call it "Lost My Marbles". I can't think of a better name for the effort that's going into this quilt. I spent some time Tuesday starting the quilting and as you can see my thread choice was a very bad one. It matches beautifully! It will show great in the dark blocks but the light side of the quilt will look unquilted.  So back to my obscene thread collection to find something else. I have lots of choices! These are the first 3 that I pulled. I love these colors The 2 on the right are acrylic threads from the collection of threads that I bought from Lunn Fabrics years ago when they were closing out these threads. I used some of these threads in Parasol.  Do you see how the thread on this one is really loose? Have you ever had that happen?  This is how much thread I had to let fall off the cone before I could get it down to something relatively neat and controllable. I don't think it's a problem with the thread, I think it's because I had the cone upside down in the drawer. I haven't paid a lot of attention to how I stored these threads but now that I've gone through the drawer I see that almost half of them were upside down. I've fixed that now. It's a really pretty pile of thread though!  But after all that I didn't choose any of these 3 threads. I decided on a bright orange that shows even better than in this photo. It's going to even stand out more in the darkest and lightest blocks. But then I ran into another snag. My ruler foot wobbles left and right a little bit. It has to do with how tightly the foot can be screwed on and still hop up and down. Michele, from Virginia Longarm, is bringing me a new washer that Innova developed to fix this.  I thought you might want to know how I'm marking my circles.
Right after I made this quilt I saw Sue Heinz at Birds of a Feather and she had these tools. I knew they were exactly what I needed! I can easily divide circles into and multiple of thirds, fourths and fifths. So once I get the new washer for the ruler foot I'll be ready to go. I'm going to document every circle that I stitch and will share the rulers that I use for each one as well. But I have to wait until next Saturday to get the washer. I'm going to try to use all of the time between now and then to get everything ready for my classes and booth at Birds of a Feather on February 8 - 11. During my break times I'll work on some postcards and maybe plan a new quilt. |
About Vicki
I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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