07 May 2012

Venn Diagram baby quilt

I can't believe it's taken me so long to write about  this baby quilt. Thomas Knauer sent me some fabric to work with from his upcoming Savanna Bop collection with Andover Fabrics.


My first impulse, inspired by the orange and red animal print in the little circle at the bottom of my quilt, was to make columns of wonky log cabins framing fussy-cut critters. But then the multi-colored droplet prints caught my eye.

I've had the idea of a Venn Diagram quilt with intersecting circles rumbling around in my head for a while. I just hadn't quite figured out how to piece all those big shapes. Savanna Bop gave me the kick in the pants I needed.


The finished quilt is about 44" x 49". I quilted the thee circles with spirals, and the background with a grid of widely spaced double diagonal lines.


The wedge at the intersection of the two big circles is a tile print from the collection. (No, silly, that is not a 1/2" patchwork!)


The two large circles are a patchwork of coordinating giraffe and elephant prints.


I pieced the intersecting circles first.


Then I pieced the background from two green prints. I carefully laid the flopsy background on a flat surface, squared up the edges, and traced & cut the outline of the circles. I sewed the perimeter of the blue circle first, and then the two remaining edges of the yellow circle.

When I took the above photo, I noticed that the grid of the blue circle wasn't quite straight -- it's rotated a bit clockwise relative to the background grid. The idea of unpicking and resewing that long curved seam was very unappealing, and I wasn't even sure the second try would have better results, so I set the project aside. A couple days later I took a fresh look and realized that I would never be able to see past the error, so I set about fixing it. Indeed, it came out better the second time. I'm so glad I fixed it.


 I pieced the quilt back from extra four-patches from the big circles and three additional Savanna Bop half yards. Do you see the pink rhinos!?


I bound the Venn Diagram quilt with more droplets.


Savanna Bop will be in stores soon. I had a great time working with Thomas's designs. The colors are bright and soft, and they work together well in close coordinates as well as the full range. The fabric has a great hand. And did I mention pink rhinos?

26 comments:

  1. Totally fantastic! The fabric where the circles intersect is perfect!

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  2. I'm obsessed with this quilt. Just brilliant.

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  3. Wow what a great quilt! Love the pattern and the quilting =D

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  4. This is the most original thing I've seen in I don't know how long. The intersection of the circles is pure genius. I love it.

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  5. Very, very clever! I love your ideas and your quilts! www.paperstarfish.prettyposies.com

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  6. Absolutely wonderful!!! Great idea and perfect fabric to execute it!!

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  7. Wonderful! Amazed you unpicked and redid that blue circle. Love the Venn diagram idea, and that you appreciate a good piecing challenge.

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  8. I crush so hard on everything you make - this is no exception!

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  9. It's a great quilt and I too like the pink rhinos. I am not so sure the baby would have noticed the piecing "problem", just saying.

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  10. That is so beautiful quilt and your idea for grossing circles is fantastic!

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  11. Wow - the intersection is so clever as it really looks like the 2 circles have overlapped. Just gorgeous and love this line.

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  12. I love the quilt and always admire your boldness in cutting into your piecing in order to inset circles - or other shapes. (Still dreaming about your giraffe and dino raw edge work . . .)

    Well done - it's a wonderful piece!

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  13. Fabulous work! As always, your quilt inspires with a combination of cleverness, skill and personality. Thanks so much for sharing it.

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  14. Oh I love that! Venn diagrams and pie charts are how I see the world. And the fabric! yum! I'm with you on the pink rhinos .

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  15. I am absolutely in love with this! You always astound me with your curvy quilts. I LOVE the intersecting area, especially. And pink rhinos!

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  16. This is so cool!

    I have an idea for doing some circular quilting like this and I love how yours turned out. Did you mark the spirals ahead (and if so, how)? Did you use a walking foot, or free motion?

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  17. Your Venn Diagram is too clever. Love the fabrics and the overall design - piecing and quilting. Thanks so much for sharing this one.
    Kim/SeeingStars

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  18. This is beautiful, I really like it.

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  19. Cute, cute quilt! And I absolutely LOVE a pieced back!

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  20. So very clever. The design aesthetic is stunning. I know that i wouldn't have seen this in the adorable Savanna Bop. I only saw "cute". Thanks for the gobsmacked moment!

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  21. Thank you for the kind words! And I thought I had a relatively original quilt idea... log circle
    This, among everything on your website, just blows me away. Glad to have found your blog. This is SO clever!

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  22. Little Blue & Little Yellow. Sweet <3

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  23. this is so cool....i love the bright fun fabrics, and the way you brought the two circles together is so amazing

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