Lisa T

Thank you! I can't take credit for the design- I saw wheels like this here: http://cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/200...t-retreat.html

Jackie was in turn inspired by this tutorial: http://mrsschmenkmanquilts.wordpress...-rac-applique/

Just another example of the awesomeness that is the World Wide Web. Someone sees something, changes it a little to reflect their own taste and so on and so on.

I learned about using silk flowers for embellishing at a class I took from this local art quilter: http://artsychickquilts.blogspot.com/

So this is just a compilation of other people's ideas. I drafted my own pattern, because I make 1/2" seams. You could just use a Dresden Plate template, or I think there are even circle wedge templates available. I will walk you through some of the steps I took and hopefully you can take it from there.

To make your own wedge template, make a circle the size you want to end up with, using poster board, a string, pin and pencil- like you did in grade school. (Mine was about 18" across.) Unless you can find a nice big round thing to trace. That would be even easier. Then draw a line halfway across, then intersect that line with another at a 90 degree angle. So you have a big "+" across your circle. It helps to have a large clear ruler with angle lines on it, like one you would use with a rotary cutter.

Then just keep drawing lines halfway between between the lines of your "+", then halfway between THOSE lines, til you have 16 even wedges. Then cut out one of the wedges, trace it on another piece of poster board or plastic and add your seam allowance with a ruler. I added a 1/2" on either side, but most people would use 1/4". Just remember that whatever you add, that is your seam allowance and if you use a different one, your circle won't lay flat.

I trimmed a little off the point of my wedge so that I ended up with an empty center- with my thick seams I had to- but don't take so much off that your center hole is too big. (Then the flower won't cover it.)

Next, I sewed together two sets of strips that added up to the length of my wedge. My strips ended at about 8". Some of my strip sets were made of two even strips- like 4" and 4", and some were uneven- 3" and 5". I alternated those circles in the layout of the quilt for more variety, but you could do them all the same way.

Then I laid the template over the strip sets, and traced it with a pen, flip-flopping it so that I got alternating wedges. If you have, say, red and blue in your strips, you will have 8 with the red on the fat end of the wedge, and 8 with the blue on the fat end of the wedge.

Then sew them together with the skinny parts at the bottom, alternating your wedges. You should end up with a nice flat circle if you managed to get your wedges cut out correctly. I had to do it twice before I got it right. So make your first couple out of fabric that doesn't matter.

To applique the circles onto the backgrounds I just use my kids' glue sticks and apply it on the edge of the circle on the back and fold it over about 1/4". When that is all folded, I spray some quilt basting spray to the back of the circle and center it on the black background. (Fold the black into quarters and finger press to find your exact center.) Then I just use a straight stitch all the way around on the edge to sew it to the background. You could use a hem stitch, too, but it gets covered by the rick rack, so it really doesn't matter. If you don't have quilt basting spray, you can pin it, but the spray is faster and you don't get poked fingers.

The rick rack I apply by sewing around once in a straight line in the center of the rick rack, right on the edge of the circle, then I go around again going up and down each zig and zag. I don't want it to curl after I wash it. For the really large rick rack I went around each side of the rick rack, which took a long time, but I know it won't curl on me.

For the silk flowers, just pull them apart, apply Fray Check and pin, then straight stitch them on, going up and down each petal. The basting spray did not hold the silk flowers down for whatever reason, so I found I did have to pin them.

I had to get a lot of new thread to match my silk flowers and rick rack. ;0)

I hope this helps, and if not, PM me and I will try to explain it better.