Thursday, January 17, 2013

The 6 minute circle

A pieced circle in 6 minutes! I first saw this technique on Simply Quilts, an HGTV show back in 2005. I thought the technique was cool and immediately bought the book about it, Pieced Curves So Simple by Dale Fleming. Of course, the moment passed and I never did anything with it until this week.

I was inspired by my Redbird Bee buddy, Hanna's quilt Hugs and Hugs. I thought they'd make the perfect addition to my "X" blocks for a hugs and kisses baby quilt.


Was I able to do a pieced circle in 6 minutes? At first, not by a long shot. But after a few, I managed to make a block in about 15 minutes. Considering my blocks were 2 pieced circles, I was pretty pleased.


I found my Olfa circle cutter handy to make the freezer paper templates and a pair of super sharp to the point scissors for all the clipping. All in all, I loved this technique and plan to use it again. A nice video of the 6 minute circle technique can be found on the HGTV website here. You might want to bookmark it - I had a hard time finding it until my friend Kelly pointed me in the right direction!


As far as other projects go, my Bee blocks are also pieced together and the quilting has started!


. . . Cindy

10 comments:

  1. Ooooh. Pretty colours on your Bee Block quilt. I love the quilting process - enjoy!

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  2. I really love that block... and I really really love your design board, sigh:)

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  3. Those circle blocks are great! Thanks for sharing the link.

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  4. I should have did that with my Madrona Road quilt. Now I am piecing my appliqued circles, with 16 layers at some points. I love to punish myself I guess. :)

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  5. I'm so curious about this circle technique. I tried the link to the video and it says it's been removed. WHAT???!!! Dang! If you're ever inclined to do a little tutorial, that would be wonderful.

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    1. Heather, I double checked the link and it seems to be working. You can also try this url:
      http://www.hgtv.com/video/easy-circle-quilt-blocks-video/index.html

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  6. Your quilt is darling, I love the design :) Okay I watched the video but your circle has an outer edge to it...how did you do that? I can't get my mind wrapped around how you did yours. Could you go through the steps? Thanks Could you explain the paper piecing kisses too? Pretty please :)

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    1. Dyann, The circle is done by doing 2 circles using the same technique. The block is 8", the outside circle is done first (it's 6"), then the inner circle is done (it's 4"). The "X" block is 4". Use a piece of graph paper to draw it out. Then paper piece it in 2 sections and sew them together. If you need more info, just email me!

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  7. I love your quilts! Your patterns are just perfect! My girlfriends grandma always made quilts like these so I'm a sucker for quilts like this.

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  8. I love the two pieced circle but I can not figure out how you did it. I've watched the video and get the single circle.but would like you to tell a what point in the video you start doing the out side part of the circle. If you could help me I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much Leslee my email is w.leslee@gmail.com

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