Stones mini quilt tutorial

This is reprint to an old tutorial from 2009.

Thought it would be fun to revisit.
Here's a link to my old post

A few supplies you'll need:

A compass, for those perfect circles.
pencil
cutter and cutting mat are helpful
straight edge for cutting

Select a range of fabrics. We, my daughter and I, used this as a challenge to find fabrics that matched the original idea, and then laid them all out on the floor to see if they read nicely together...
My daughter quickly pointed out that I had to many large florals, so we yanked them back out and tried a few more. We found that smaller prints work better for this project.
But Hey! Knock yourself out. There is no right answer!
Here are the fabric sizes and pieces you will need:


Strips left to right:
#1 = 6.5" x 19"
#2 = 5.5" x 19"
#3 = 10"x 19"
#4 = 2.5"x 19"
#5 = 1"x 19"
#6 = 5"x 19"
#7 = 1"x 19"
#8 = 1"x 19"
#9 = 5"x 19"
#10 = 3"x 19"


Circles:

Paper templates cut:

Cut 2= 6.5" card stock template circles
Cut 8 = 6.5" card stock templates

Fabric Circles cut:
Circles are listed in order of lay out.
6.5" circles

1 dark tone
1 bright tone
1 medium tone
5 light toned fabrics

Large background circles cut:
7.5" cirlces

1 medium tone
1 light tone same fabric as circle # 4

Layout of circles:
#1 large medium tone circle on top of 1 light tone circle
#2 = 6.5" size BRIGHT toned circle
#3 = 6.5" size DARK toned circle
#4 = 6.5" size light toned circle
#5 = 1 large light toned ,Same fabric as #4 fabric, circle with medium toned 6.5 size circle on top
#6 = light toned circle
#7 light toned circle, cut in half (same fabric for #8)
#8 same light toned fabric circle as #7



Binding,
aprox. 120" of mixed 3" wide strips, joined and ironed in half for binding.

Directions:

Cut your strips and lay them in order as listed side by side, and sew them together using a 1/4" seam. Press it out flat. And it will look like this.

Cut your fabric circles per the sizes listed above.

Cut paper circles 1/4" smaller than the fabric.

Take a fabric circle sew using a basting stitch 1/8" around the edge of the circle. Be sure to back stitch at the start but DO NOT back stitch at the end. cut your thread long, as you will then, insert your paper circle and  gently pull one of you hanging thread so that it puckers and wraps around the circle. This may take you a few tries, but it gets easier when you get the hang of it...
Once it starts to pucker I like to tie a knot int he thread to keep them from coming loose then iron down the edges.

This does not need to be perfect, but you should get the basting closest to the outer edge so it has room to wrap around... ironing it makes it lay nice and flat and gives you that clean edge around the circle.

Once you have your circles all prepared,(including the half circles, position them across the panel.

When I laid my circles I was conscious about weather one was to overlap, or touch the next...
Since the dark blue strip was so dark I wanted the brown circle to overlap and escape a little so that it would not get lost in the blue.
Two of the circles are appliqued onto the two larger circles, then appliquéd onto the panel.

I'm no expert on applique, All I know is what I learned in homemaking class way back when!
I find if I start from the bottom, and bring up the thread, take a tiny stitch out of the just turning under part of the circle, and then again take a little from just barely underneath the circle of the panel, your stitches will be well hidden.

It was fun to look back at these OLD posts,  and see how far I've come!  Do you think about the work you did years ago, and acknowledge how better your skills are now?