From Joan:

I just watched and enjoyed your video about preparing circles, since I recently finished appliquéing 81 flannel circles unto flannel squares. This is what I did. (Much similar to your process with a couple of minor differences.)

I used the perfect circle template from Karen Kay Buckley. Borrowed it from my friend Jackie. Hers came with a thicker acrylic 2.5” circle to draw around and all the plastic/teflon templates. Drew all 81 circles at once, then cut them 2 at a time with roughly 3/8” seams allowance. Then with all my cut 2.5” cookies stacked, I worked on 4 at a time. Sewed around outer edges, starting with a “knicker knot” (demoed by Sue Daley in another video for EPP—a PS from me at the bottom of the post) and left a longer tail to pull gathers. I found that a regular quilters knot pulled through too easily.

My first few circles I tied knot at end, but found it sometimes difficult to get the plastic template out after pressing, so I left the tail loose to pull while pressing and then again to make adjustments to pleats & gathers after template removed. Making 4 at a time proved to be perfect timing for me since it took about that long to press and then cool enough to handle. I only used water in a spray bottle to press, not starch. I pressed them flat one more time on my wool mat. Again I made stacks of 2.5” red flannel cookies. 

Now begins the hand sewing. It started out a bit tedious since all the circles were red tweed print and all squares were a black dark check. So they come off as red on black. But I made sort of a game of it as I got into it. I had maybe 15 done when I decided to time myself without racing, just to see how long it actually took to sew a circle down. Each one took less than 10 min. My game became: stitch 5 in the morning before I started my day and 5 in evening while watching tv or before working on something else. Easy enough to do without getting bored. I made a little pile of 5 each and in no time I had all 81 done in about 10days. And it made it less tedious!! 

Now I get to start making the square-in-a-square blocks. They have been my nemesis for quite some time but after this quilt, I should have them conquered!! All the blocks will be different colored plaids, checks, so not tedious at all. I will put a wool batt inside and do some big stitch in blocks with maybe an X in center of each circle. Making it for my husband, he knows nothing at this point and he will love it. No rush for finish. 

So that’s my circle story. Joan

Thank you, Joan, for sharing your circle adventure! This is going to be a wonderful surprise for you husband. It will surely keep him warm :-). Also, your circles are wonderfully round and perfect. Nice!

The Needle Caddy pattern is free at pieceocake.com—click here. From Joan: “My friend Jackie made the needle caddy and gave it to me some time ago. Then she made more for group gifts; she asked if I wanted another…absolutely!! I keep that one in my wool appliqué supplies. So I have 2. Lucky me!”

PS: The knicker knot has been around a while. I learned it years ago and replaced it with my ending knot, which has also been around a long time. Both are good knots to use to end a line of stitches or at the beginning, when sewing coarser fabric like flannel where a quilter’s knot pulls through.