So how are you all getting on embracing your inset circles for the challenge?  I know Liz has done some, but what about the rest of you?  At this rate it may be the easiest prize Liz has ever won!  You have until midnight on Wednesday night, BST, to link up below…

“And what might you actually win?”  I hear you ask (I know, I need to stop listening to the voices in my head).  Well this week I tried out Kerry’s Compass method,  I didn’t take pics as I went as a) I forgot, and b) I was too busy sticking myself with pins as it was!

This is going to form part of the prize (look away now Cherie, it’s one of those scary frogs again ;o) ), and you can see it all made up below.  When I was casting round my stash looking for something to highlight in a circle, my eyes fell upon Prince Charming, and I knew he was destined for this very purpose, so I hope you love him too :o)

As far as following the tute, it was nice and easy with lots of pics to guide you through.  You will need, in addition to your 2 fabrics, a pair of compasses, a small pair of sharp fabric scissors and 2 pieces of paper (or maybe 1 if your circles are smaller than mine).  I took the walking foot that I usually use on my machine off for doing this, and switched to my regular foot with its 1/4″ mark on it (lesson learned from part 1 of this challenge!).  Overall I would say that this is not a method for those that like to put the pedal to the metal when stitching, as you have to carefully ease round and ensure that your pieces are actually lining up under the needle, but it did give me a nice circle, and I pretty much avoided any kinks from excess fabric anywhere.

Now we’ve reached the end of the month of investigating inset circles as part of Candi’s series  I’ve been interested in circles for a while, and have tried a few methods prior to this month’s challenge, as well as trying 2 new techniques this month, so here’s a round up of what I now know:

• Raw edge applique – great for picture type quilts/minis where circles aren’t the main feature, but I wouldn’t want a whole quilt made like this, all the sewing and bondawebbing would drive me insane! 
• Turned edge applique – I really don’t have the patience to do all the fiddly bits for this for a large number of circles!  It’s useful for the centre of dresdens though.
• Portholes – this is a great effect, but it really does look like a porthole in the end rather than an inset circle. 
• Pieced circles using freezer paper, clipped curves and glue stick – a little messy with the glue, but you do get a good line to follow when stitching to create your circle.
• Pieced circles using the compass method – less initial prep, but harder to see the line you should be following to ensure both pieces meet correctly.

Here’s my 2 makes for the month:

This whole challenge was an interesting experiment in preparation for my My Precious bubbles quilts.  Initially I’d been going to try applique of some sort, but I wasn’t that keen on having all my circles sitting on top of the main fabric.  I had then thought of making them portholes after FQR, but I’ve actually changed my mind again, and I’m going for the first technique I tried this month.  It’s a wee bit foutery, but I think it gave the best result for what I’m after.  I’ve got every intention of using the portholes again though, after all I have some HR goldfish to rehouse, and I rather like the idea of giving them portholes on the world ;o) 

Now link up what you’ve been doing with inset circles and you could win the results of experiment #2!  You have until Wednesday, 1st August at midnight BST to link up, then Mr Random Number Generator will be called upon to pick a winner :o)

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