drunkard path quilt block

On a whim yesterday, I decided to play with a fabric die cut machine a friend has lent me. I have never used one of these machines before but it seemed like a fun thing to use scraps on… so I grabbed some of my Cotton and Steel scraps and started cutting…

I decided to play with the Drunkards Path die that came with the machine, because it seemed like a great way to make these blocks, as the die cuts both pieces the perfect size….as opposed to the ruler method I have used in the past which leaves you with scrap pieces that are either to small or two big to use.

cut pieces

Anyway some ironing and cutting and an episode of Game of Thrones later I had a pile of curved block pieces….

cutting Now these pieces make a 3 1/2 inch curved block for a 7 inch finished circle… in other words they are small. The first thing I have learned with this project is that the smaller the curve you are trying to piece the harder it is to be accurate. After some struggles aligning the pieces accurately I finally came up with a solution… glue basting.

glue baste 2

Using my Sewline glue pen I glued around the seam line of one of the pieces of the block…

pieces

Placed the pieces together, using the notch to align and then carefully finger pressed the pieces together…

press together

It worked like a charm and another episode of Game of Thrones later (we are just finishing up Season 5 so are a little behind)… I had a nice pile of glue basted…

glue baste Now all I have to do sew them… the glue basting will make chain piecing a breeze…

sewing

And I will have my block pieces done and ready for me to play with layout….

block layout

I am glad I decided to try the die cut curves… I have learned a lot including the fact that I like my curves big….much bigger than 4 inches….

In the last week I had an amazing quilting break through. Anyone who has followed me for a while knows I had an irrational fear of curved piecing. Sewing curves, circles seamed unnaturally and ridiculously hard.

Well you can imagine my “delight” (note the sarcastic inverted commas) when my fellow ScrapBeeLicous Bee member, Michelle of Factotum of Arts set a drunkard path block as her block of the month. To soften the blow, Michelle very generously also sent us all this…

Angela Pingel’s “A Quilter’s Mixology” has changed my quilting life… seriously. Armed with this book and it’s pattern sheet, Michelle’s colour directions, a sharpie pen and a sheet of Overhead Projector film I went to work.

The OHP film worked nicely as a sturdy template and Angela’s instructions made it all seem so simple… and it was ridiculously simple.

In no time I had made the requisite blocks and then just kept going….

Twelve blocks later I decided I wanted to try something different… so I pulled out a circle ruler my husband had bought me recently and started cutting up more fabric…

The Easy Circle Cut ruler is great for making smaller circles and curves, while Angela’s book has a great selection of bigger templates.

Armed with the EZ template and a stack of solids from my stash, I produced copious amounts of curved blocks in about three days…

Enough to make a full quilt top actually… there was a point on Saturday night when my husband thought he might have to do a circle intervention but I convinced him it was okay, I was nearly done…for the moment!!!

What I did not tell him was that I already have another circle quilt planned, using the extra bits from this top. Yes it is official I am now curve obsessed. You have been warned.