Hi There 🙂 It’s me, Melissa Corry from Happy Quilting and I am so excited to share my Ring Around Baby Quilt!! I really love the bold prints and colors of Zen Chic’s Comma line. They make it so much fun to work with. So let’s get right to it!!
1 Comma Layer Cake
1 yard of favorite black print for pieced back, I used 1513 16
1/4 yard of favorite white print for pieced back, I used 1513 11
1/3 yard of favorite print for binding, I used 1512 20
Spray Baste
STEP 1 – PIECING THE QUILT TOP
From your layer cake select the 5 black/white squares, the 3 grey/black squares, and the 8 white/black squares. Lay them out in a 4 x 4 grid alternating black and white prints as shown.
Sew the blocks into rows. Place the second block onto the first with right sides together and sew a 1/4″ seam along the edge as shown in row 1. I don’t pin these, I just align as I go. Then place the third block onto the now sewn together 1st and 2nd blocks and sew a 1/4″ seam as shown in row 2. Repeat process for the fourth block as shown in row 4. Press towards the black/grey blocks.
Now you can sew the rows together. Place Row 1 onto Row 2 and Row 3 onto Row 4 with right sides together. Take care to nest your seams and pin in place. Sew a 1/4″ seam along the pinned edges. Repeat the same process to sew Row 1/2 and Row 3/4 together.
Press your rows. Your quilt top will look something like this 🙂 Go ahead and set it aside for a bit.
STEP 2 – CUTTING THE APPLIQUE
Gather your remaining layer cake squares. I set aside the 2 reprint squares and the square that matched my binding fabric to use on my Bonus Tutorial mentioned later. Cut each of the remaining (21) 10″ squares into (4) 5″ squares. For your applique, you can choose to cut perfect circles or wonky circles.
To make perfect circles . . . Fold your charm square in half with right sides together. Then fold in half again the opposite direction. Press the folds. Using a compass, align the point on the folded center and draw a quarter circle. Repeat for one to two more arcs. Cut along the drawn lines.
And you have a varied number of rings and circles. Feel free to change the size and amount of arcs so that you get a lot of different size and widths of rings.
To make wonky circles . . . Fold your charm square in half with right sides together. Then fold in half again the opposite direction. Finger press the folds. Cut an arced shape over the folded center Repeat for one to two more arcs.
And you have a varied number of wonky rings and circles. Feel free to change the size and amount of arcs so that you get a lot of different size and widths of rings. And you can really play with the wonky factor here.
Repeat for all of your 5″ squares so you end up with a pile of rings and a pile of circles. Set the circles aside as you wont be needing them. (They can be used in the Bonus Tutorial.)
STEP 3 – ADDING APPLIQUE TO QUILT SANDWICH
First, you need to piece the quilt back so you can make a quilt sandwich. Cut your yard backing piece into 2 pieces measuring as follows. Trim the selvages from your 1/4″ fabric. Sew the three pieces together using a 1/2″ seams. Press the seams to the darker print. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture so you get a graphic.)
Create your quilt sandwich using spray baste. The reason I suggest Spray Baste is because it will be difficult to add the applique with a whole bunch of pins in the way. If you are new to using spray baste for creating a quilt sandwich you can see my video tutorial on how to do so.
And now you are ready to add the rings 🙂 Place approximately 4 rings in a box an spray with a coating of spray baste. You don’t want to work with much more than that at a time or the baste will start to dry out.
Place the first ring onto your quilt top leaving a bubble where you would like to add the next ring.
Place the next ring onto the quilt top so that it links with the first. At one of the intersections of the two rings, cut the new ring as shown.
Slide the two cut edges under the bubble of the first ring. Press the rings in place leaving a new bubble in the second ring to add a third ring.
Continue the process. Start new groupings and vary the size and shape of each grouping. Some of my groups have up to 6 rings and some only two. The more variation the better.
Continue until you have covered the entire quilt. I ended up with about 2 rings left over.
STEP 4 – FINISHING QUILT
And now you are ready to finish the quilt. Your quilt sandwich is already made so you can move right onto quilting. You will want to quilt this with a rather dense FMQ design to ensure that all of those cut edges get stitched down. I choose to do a Interlocking Circles FMQ design and you can see a video tutorial on how to do this here. It also gives some insights on quilting with all of the raw edges. You will have to stop occasionally and lift your presser foot and then place it on top of the edge of the applique as sometimes it tends to pop up. You will notice a few of my circles have been pinned. Those were for the really stubborn ones that just didn’t want to stay in place.
Once you are finished quilting all that remains is to bind it. Cut your binding fabric into (4) 2 1/2 ” strips and bind your quilt. I machine quilted this to add strength as it is a baby quilt. If you are new to this you can see a video tutorial on binding here.
One adorably chic and modern Ring Around baby quilt measuring 38″ x 38″, a perfect gift for a special little one.
And . . . If you want to finish that gift off with another little handmade treasure and use up your leftover circles at the same time, pop on over to Happy Quilting for this bonus Chic Circles Car Seat Cover Tutorial.
Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If you make your own Ring Around Baby Quilt I would love to see it. You can add it to my Inspired by Happy Quilting Flickr group here 🙂
Have a Happy Quilting Day!!
Melissa Corry
{www.happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com}
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