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Making a square quilt out of circles – OLFA rulers make it work!

by Paul Leger

My advice yesterday was to always have SCHMETZ Piecing and Quilting Assorted Needles and neutral threads such as Gütermann Cotton 50wt Thread in Lt. Slate and Gütermann Cotton 50wt Thread in Ivory. These items should be in all quilting studios as basic items.

Two spools of Gütermann 50wt cotton thread one in Light slate and the other in ivory and a package of SCHMETZ piecing and quilting needles.

Gütermann neutral threads and SCHMETZ needles

I mentioned three OLFA rulers in the list of notions and tools I listed in Monday’s post, Quilt a Cathedral Window Quilt! For best results use OLFA tools. I used the OLFA 1212″ Square Frosted Acrylic Ruler to cut the 8½” x 8½” fabric squares I needed to cut the circles. Tomorrow, I’ll show how I use the OLFA 412″ Square Frosted Acrylic Ruler. Today, my ruler of choice is the OLFA 612″ Square Frosted Acrylic Ruler as it’s the perfect size.

Three frosted acrylic rulers, the OLFA 41⁄2″ square ruler, the OLFA 61⁄2″ square ruler and the OLFA 121⁄2″ square ruler

OLFA rulers

I placed the OLFA 612″ square ruler on the side of the circle that has the slit. I squared off the ruler on the circle. By moving the ruler, I was able to get a 5⅜” x 5⅜” square.

Note: Don’t worry if the slip is close to the edge of the ruler. This will not matter once the sewing and quilting are completed.

The 61⁄2″ square OLFA ruler is placed on a fabric circle to find the possible size of a square within the circle.

Squaring off the ruler on a circle

After finding the square, I marked the outline with a pencil. I repeated this step in all circles.

A square outline is drawn on a fabric circle; OLFA 61⁄2″ square ruler

Mark a square outline on all circles.

I pinned all circles in pairs trying to match the drawn line as best as possible

Part of two fabric circles are shown, one mauve and the other dark purple. The mauve circle has pencil lines drawn on it and you can see the same lines marked on the purple circle.

Pin circles in pairs.

Once I completed the pinning, I sewed along the marked lines.

Two circles are sewn together along a pre-marked line; one circle is dark purple and the other is mauve.

Sew along the mark lines to sew the two circles together.

I then sewed all pairs together making sets of four.

Two sets of circles are sewn together making a set of four.

Sew pairs of circles into sets of four.

Then, I pressed down all the curved edges.

An Oliso iron presses down the curved edges between each of the four circles; Oliso PRO TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron – Turquoise

Press curved edges.

The second last step is to sew the four sets of four circles together making a square quilt. Then press down the curved edges between the rows.

Four rows of four circles in dark purple and mauve fabrics are sewn together. The Oliso iron is used to press down the curved edges; Oliso PRO TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron – Turquoise

Join the four rows together and press down the curved edges.

This last step is two steps in one – quilting by sewing down the edges of the curves. This step completes the Cathedral Window Quilt.

Note: If I made much larger circles, I’d consider adding more quilting in the center of the circles.

The Completed Cathedral Window quilt in dark purple and mauve fabrics

Completed Cathedral Window Quilt

Having the correct tools and notions, like the OLFA 1212″ Square Frosted Acrylic Ruler, the OLFA 412″ Square Frosted Acrylic Ruler, and the OLFA 612″ Square Frosted Acrylic Ruler makes this an easy-to-make quilt. It’s a perfect project for a sew day or retreats. Give it a try!

Tools used during the making of the Cathedral Window Quilt, an OLFA 41⁄2″ Square Ruler, an OLFA 61⁄2″ square ruler, an OLFA square ruler, an OLFA 12″ x 18″ double-sided rotary Mat, an OLFA rotary circle cutter, an OLFA compass circle cutter, an OLFA rotary 45mm cutter, a pair of KAI 51⁄2″ (14cm) scissors, a pack of SCHMETZ piecing and quilting needles, and two spools of Gütermann 50wt cotton thread, one in light slate the other in ivory.

Great tools and notions are must-haves in a quilting kit.

Tomorrow I’ll give everyone a couple of suggestions on what to do with the leftover scraps from making this quilt. I’ll also show you an awesome notion to use with batting. It’s so cool.

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Sewing up circular quilt sandwiches for the Cathedral Window Quilt

Go to part 5: How 128 leftover corner pieces of fabric make 2” x 2” four-patch blocks

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