Okay, so I'll quit lurking and go ahead and post this!
I didn't buy any new fabric for this quilt, but I did buy the cotton batting for the inside of it (I used black). The shades of gray are from various tee-shirts and sweats that were headed for Goodwill. Unlike 100 percent cotton "official" quilting fabric, articles of clothing are stretchy blended cotton, so I had to use a LOT of iron-on interfacing (which I already had laying around) to keep the different weights of fabric from stretching around and distorting.
I was inspired by a crop-circle design that I found online, and drew it onto graph paper to plan out how many blocks there would be. I then scanned the drawing into Photoshop and enlarged each "block" on the graph paper to the size that I wanted it to be in real life. (I took the original graph drawing and used colored pencils to "color code" which shades of gray I wanted in which areas...it was an easy way to see what it would look like at the end, and keep track of it all!
I printed out each block (I think they were 8.5 inches sguare so that I could use regular printer paper) and used it as a pattern to cut the shapes from fusible web interfacing (I use "Wonder Under", you can get it at most fabric stores). Then I ironed the fusible web pattern pieces onto the wrong side of orange fabric (two shades of orange from 2 shirts) and cut them out, adding 1/4 inch extra so I could fold under the edges for a better finish.
I ironed (fused) the orange shapes to each background block, and top-stitched around the edges. When it was time to assemble all the blocks together, I had to lay them on the floor first (they took up our whole office!) to make sure they were in the right order...I sewed them together to make rows, then sewed the rows together one at a time, until the whole top was finished!
The back was quite another task...I don't have a photo, but I used other random shades of gray fabric to create a labyrinth of gray rectangles and squares, which fills up the whole reverse side of the quilt. I like it just as much as the front! Maybe I'll put a photo of the back on my blog soon.
I don't like binding quilts, so I made this one just with finished edges. I simply:
*pinned the quilt top to the cotton batting to make sure it stayed smooth,
*put the quilt backing on top (right sides together) and
*serged all around the edge, leaving a space so I could turn it right-side out.
I learned a lot about what not to do when quilting the layers together, and will make it easier on myself next time by not having so many stops and starts...all those threads had to be tied off and concealed and it's a lot more work than I though it would be!
Technically I'm done quilting it, although I'd like to add a lot of free-motion work...when I get my sewing machine fixed! It took me long enough...over a year, working on it here and there. And I still have finishing details to do on it
(PS I hope the pictures show up, as this is my first post and I'm just learning the technicalities
)
--Jamie
photos added 2-25-08:
So I finally got a photo of the back (my apologies for the wrinkles!)
and I found the sketch that I started shading in when I was planning it.
I saw that several people mentioned different ways of finishing the quilting, and I'm considering more of a grid-like filler in-between the large squares on the front.
btw...It IS nice and warm, too!
Oh gosh--reference photos? I just googled "crop circle photos"...you'll get a LOT of stuff to dig through, but there's a ton of info and pictures out there. Most of the popular designs have names, but I have to admit that I've forgotten the name of this one.
