I’ve always been a purple girl and I’m really a purple-and-teal-together kind of girl. As I was looking for fabric to use my Facet-nating block from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Vol. 5 into a project for Quilts from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Fall ’12, I fell in love with Poetica from Art Gallery Fabrics.
Here’s the outline for my original block, Facet-nating:
I designed an alternate block so the triangles started in this block would continue into the next one:
My finished quilt, Fascinating Twist, uses both blocks above and Poetica fabric:
I really enjoyed using the fabric with the big circular motif, and I love how it fits into the diamond patch of the first block above. It took some fussy cutting to make it work. Let me show you how I cut 7-1/2″ squares patches with the circular motif centered.
First, this is what the fabric looks like uncut, selvages are at the top and bottom of this picture:
Step 1: I folded the side over, so that the first whole column of circular motifs were centered (left side of the photo below), matching the edges of the design:
Step 2: I needed 7-1/2″ patches, so I placed my ruler at 3-1/4″ (half of 7-1/2) on the edge of the fold, and cut:
That yields one strip of circular motifs, still folded:
Same strip, unfolded:
Step 3: Skipping the first partial motif, I again folded the circular motif in half (matching the edges of the design):
Step 4: And cut again at 3-1/4″:
You’ll see that there is a slight amount of design at the center edges of my patch. I knew most of this would be covered in the seam allowances. I was careful to select the adjoining fabric so that the little bit of design at these edges will blend into them:
Repeat: I continued to repeat this process on each strip of fabric: One complete patch cut. Skip the next partial design. Match the edges of the whole design so the fold is on the center:
Cut at 3-1/4″:
I ended up with quite a few scraps alongside the fussy-cut patches. I’m sure they’ll find their way into another project some day!
I really like the finished look of this circular motif in this block.
The complete instructions for Fascinating Twist can be found in Quilts from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Fall ’12. It’s at quilt shops and on newsstands now. Shop local if you can, otherwise it is available at QuiltandSewShop.com: buy the print version or buy the digital (PDF) version. Enjoy!
P.S. Please see quiltmaker.com/corrections for an accurately-sized foundation for this pattern and for All Aglow in this same issue.
