To complete this 54" X 54" quilt you will need the following ...
Sixteen 10 1/2" squares of fabric for the background.
Twenty 9 1/2" squares of the same fabric, also for the background.
Sixteen 8" squares of fabric for the inset circles.
Backing fabric that is at least four inches wider on all sides than the quilt top.
Binding fabric
Freezer paper
Fabric markers
And, of course, the BERNINA Ruler Kit for the Frame Models.
To quilt the top I also used the BERNINA ruler that comes with your BERNINA Ruler Work Kit and the BERNINA Echo Quilting Clips.
For my quilt I used some scraps that I had left over from an assortment of the Raining Cats and Dogs fabric by David Walker for Free Spirit Fabrics for the inset circles and the binding. For the background fabric I used Hue-Tossed Paws White on White by Timeless Treasures. This quilt will be going to my son and his wife for their three little dachshund puppies and their two rescue kittens. I think "Raining Cats and Dogs" is the perfect fabric choice, don't you?
Cutting Out Your Fabric
1. Cut your background fabric into sixteen 10 1/2" squares, these will later be trimmed to
9 1/2". Cut twenty more squares of the same fabric into 9 1/2" squares.
2. Take your 6.5 BERNINA circle ruler (this is the largest one in the nest of circles) and put it on top of an 8" square piece of paper. Place the circle ruler in the middle and trace around the inside of the ruler to make a circle. Cut out this circle using scissors. Now take your various fabrics for the inset circles and use this template as a preview window to audition your fabrics. When you find a section of the fabric showing through the circle that you like just trace around the 8" template and cut this fabric out. Do this for all sixteen inset circles. If you have a fabric with an all over pattern then you can skip this step and just cut out sixteen 8" squares from your fabrics. A scrappy circle quilt just begs for a whimsical design though, don't you think? So, keep that in mind when choosing your fabric.
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| Auditioning the fabric. |
Making The Template For Your Inset Circles
1. Using a piece of 10 1/2" freezer paper (you can iron two together to get a firmer template) take your 6.5 BERNINA circle ruler and center it on the paper. To center the circle draw a line from the top and from the side that intersect in the middle of the paper. Lay your circle ruler on these lines and line up all four sides using the marks on your ruler. This will perfectly center your inset circle. See how wonderfully these rulers work during construction of your quilt?
2. Cut the circle out of the template. Take your time and be precise in your cutting as this is the shape that will be on your quilt and you don't want any wonky edges.
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| I used a Star Wars pen to trace onto my paper because I'm a #nerdmom, but you can use any kind of marking pencil to trace with. |
Constructing The Inset Circles
1. Take one of your 10 1/2" squares of background fabric and place it RIGHT side down onto your ironing surface. Place your freezer paper template over it. Square up your edges making sure the shiny side of the template is down. That's the side that will adhere to the fabric. Press the template with your iron set to dry heat.
2. Pop your BERNINA 5.5 circle ruler on top of the inset circle and trace around it using a fabric marker. This will give you a cutting line that is 1/2" out from the circle. Cut out the circle. Then cut notches along this line right up to the edge of the template to form tabs.
3. Draw a line of fabric glue around the circle and carefully fold back all of the tabs and press them into the glue using your fingers.
4. Place some more glue on top of each of those glued down tabs and place your 8" square of fabric onto the glue. Make sure to center the motif you chose into the middle of the circle. Give it a few moments for the glue to set and then you can carefully peel off the freezer paper template from between the fabrics. You can reuse this template a few times before having to make another one.
5. Take this to your sewing machine and stitch a 1/8" seam around the circle. Trim the excess fabric off the back. Because I have a white background with colorful circles I wanted this trim line to be even as it will show through. To make a quick even line I simply popped my BERNINA 6.5 circle ruler down on top of the back seam and traced a line around it. This gave me a nice cutting line to follow. See how handy these rulers come in?
6. Press your fabric and trim it to 9 1/2" making sure the circle is centered. I didn't have a 9 1/2" square ruler handy to do this, so, I just popped the BERNINA 6.5 circle ruler on top of a 9 1/2" square piece of freezer paper, centering it with the lines and cut out the circle. Then I pressed it over my squares laying the opening right on top of that inset circle. Then I trimmed it to 9 1/2" giving me a perfectly centered middle.
NOTE: If you'd rather not do the glue method you can simply turn under your circle tabs and press them over the freezer paper template. Remove the freezer paper. Then pin the bottom fabric square into place, centering the motif, and stitch around it.
Assembling The Quilt
Stitch your squares together as shown in the diagram below. The turquoise squares are your squares with inset circles sewn in. The white squares are the rest of your 9 1/2" squares of background fabric.
Now Comes The Fun Part - Quilting It On The Longarm!
Load your backing, pieced top and batting onto your longarm. Oil your machine, thread it and test your thread tension on a piece of fabric laid out on the exposed batting. Then set up your machine for doing ruler work. Here's a little tip ... whenever I use rulers I use this mnemonic to help me remember everything I need to do so that I don't forget something and accidentally come crashing down on a ruler with my foot.
Whenever I pick up a ruler in one hand I hold my other hand up in the STOP position and count off these five steps on each of my fingers before I take even one stitch!
1. Ruler Base On
2. Ruler Foot On
3. BSR 2
4. Needle Down
5. Foot Down
Once you've got all five of these things done you're ready to safely start quilting on your longarm! And, remember, you can lift and lock your non-dominant handle up and out of the way making it easier to use your rulers.
How I Quilted My Top
I've placed plain fabric squares around the edges of the quilt in order to create some negative space. In each of these squares I've quilted a circle in the center by stitching around the BERNINA 4.5 circle ruler with the smallest BERNINA Echo Quilting Clip slipped onto my ruler foot. This made the circle the same size as the inset circles on the rest of the quilt. These are handy little rulers to have! Then I quilted these squares in the same manner as I did my colorful inset circles giving a nice echo effect to the quilt.
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| There's just something about a quilt all tucked in on a longarm. I always think they look so pretty at that stage. |
Next I stitched in the ditch of the inset circles by using the edge of a circle ruler to keep me on task. Then I used the round top of the ruler that comes with your BERNINA Ruler Work Kit to make petals around these circles. On the inside of each circle I used the BERNINA S-Shaped ruler included in the BERNINA Ruler Kit for Frame Models to stitch in a fun wavy crosshatch instead of a traditional one since this is a fun puppy/kitty quilt. Remember, the point is to try out your new rulers so have fun with your choices. And last, but not least, I stippled around all the circles.
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| I kinda like my wonky little flowers. |
I marked my quilt before I loaded it on the longarm. In the past when I used to quilt by hand this was the task I didn't care for. I have to say though that using the BERNINA rulers to mark with made this a breeze!
If you would like other ideas for circle designs I highly recommend looking through Amanda Murphy's Rulerwork Quilting Idea Book. This book will give you all the tips and tricks that you need to be confident in working with your rulers and she has tons of designs for you to choose from.
Using the BERNINA rulers in both constructing your pieced top and then in quilting it on the longarm makes the quilting process easy and enjoyable.
And Now I'll Share A Little Secret With You ...
This quilt was the very first quilt that I made on my new longarm. I just finished it the other day. I did a "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy, I Did My First Quilt On My Longarm Dance" in the middle of the room! Yep, I even twirled! Did I make mistakes? You bet! Do I think the puppies and kittens will lay around on the quilt all day pointing out the mistakes to each other? Probably not, well maybe Tesla 🐶 The troublesome part of the quilt for me was that I'd never stitched in the ditch before and the insides of those circles were difficult for me. I used the edge of the circle ruler and that helped. Also, I had only tried out stippling once before so I practiced it a bit first out on the batting with some extra fabric then took my time and I was happy with it. I took these pictures throughout the process to share with you, hoping it would inspire you to pick up your rulers and try them out! I'm looking forward to quilting my next quilt. Oh, and by the way, the puppies and kittens love their new quilt! Here they are in order of appearance ... Odin, Tiberius, Tesla Firefly, Tribble and Teek❣️
I hope you enjoyed this article. I invite you to follow along during the ups and downs and all arounds of my new longarm journey by following my new blog. I will be learning as I go and I would enjoy reading your comments. If you're a new longarmer we can learn together and if you've been doing this for awhile you can give us newbies your tips and tricks in the comments.
So, go grab some rulers and quilt some love into your world!
Meledie...the quilt is gorgeous. Great idea to use the rulers for piecing templates. The quilting turned out great. For a "beginner," you're killin' it!
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