'Cuz I Know You're Just As Thrilled With the Marsala Quilt As I Am

Right? It's gonna be fabulous when it's all done. Trust me on this! lol  I am having a lot of fun with this quilt in case you hadn't already figured that out. First I went through my stack of potential fabrics for this quilt and pulled what I thought would add a nice bit of spark.

Some brightness for the quilt....

Then I drew four different quarter circle units (each on a specific size square of plastic template plastic), making sure to draw them all different widths. I want to have plenty of interest, which for me means not a lot of 'perfectness'.  Is that a word?

I went back to the 'Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar' book by Roderick Kiracofe out of curiosity and also for more inspiration. Yes, I finally caved and bought it. {My goal the last couple years has been to only buy books I'm positive I'll use, peruse, and be happy with long after the first day they reach my quilting room}. It's a truly amazing book and I love adding it to my collection! This particular quilt really drew me in from the moment I saw it, but then you know me and my current weakness for circles in quilts!

Another little bit of inspiration...

Not that I want to make an identical quilt. I did after all use a completely different block. The crossroads block looked like it would work better for this quilt considering the fact that I'm trying to use lots of marsala (and its lighter colored cousins). Some of those cousins are very dingy and boring looking too--a real challenge to make this quilt look happy and fun! Which I don't have to do. It can be any style I want to make it, but why make a dull looking quilt that I'll never feel happy using?

Trying to lay out the circle units.

Here's the first block after getting all the applique units stitched down. This one looks pretty good, but several have a little bit of poofiness in the center from where the bias stretched a little. I tried to be careful and pin well, but you know how quickly it happens. I'm almost positive it can all be dealt with when I attack it with my hand quilting some day....

One block finished!

Checking out how the blocks are looking side by side--there is going to be some obvious mismatching seams. Yep, it is bit startling at first! But it's exactly the look I'm striving for so I refuse to stress out about it, and in fact, I am NOT fiddling with any of the circle placement. At all. Every block is going to be stitched as-is and then meet up where they meet up.

The first three blocks on the wall....

I really, really like the close-up of some of the blocks where I had to use more than one background color. And also where I had to piece my strips! That make-do look is something I adore and some of you probably think I'm nuts for actively trying to implement the look. Each to their own. I honestly feel very impressed that I've grown enough in my quilt making to be comfortable making this sort of quilt. It's not a product of mistakes afterall but elements I've consciously decided to incorporate. Believe me, that makes all the difference in the world in how much I can appreciate the look in my own quiltmaking.

Looking at it a bit closer....

I'm hoping to make the April deadline, but no real worries about that. My entry will just be a top, not a completed quilt. There's only so many deadlines I can handle in a year and this is just meant to be a fun change up from my Fire quilt applique. And get me one more quilt into my quarter circles series.*wink  Hey, did I just skip past the second one in the series or what? hehe