A Foxy Circle Quilt - Cloud9 Fabrics Challenge

In June, we were lucky to have Michelle Engel Bencsko, Co-Founder, Design & Marketing Director at Cloud9 Fabrics come along to our NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild meeting.

Michelle talked us through the design and organic production process and shared many Cloud9 fabrics and quilts.

At the end Michelle set the Guild a Cloud9 Fabrics Challenge:

Using 4 x Cloud9 Fabric fat quarters (supplied by Cloud9 Fabrics) make a baby quilt (approx 36" x 42") to give to charity.  Additional fabrics must be from the Cloud9 Fabrics range or any brand of solid.  All quilts to be handed over at the next meeting of the NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild in October.

Here's my 4 fat quarters from Ed Emberley's Picture Pie collection: Alphabet, Foxes, and Scribble:

I've just purchased this Circle Savvy Ruler by Creative Grids, it cuts circles, semi-circles and quarter circles from 3" to 15.5" and every 0.5" in between and this seemed like a great opportunity to give it a try.  I won't tell you how to use it, there's a great video here on YouTube if you're interested.

NOTE - I'm an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) on any purchase you make following this link.

I added some more Cloud9 Scribble fabric in grey and orange and also Michael Miller soft white cotton couture solid along with a crib size Hobb's Heirloom double sided fusible batting to complete the quilt.

I started out making a quilt sandwich using the MM soft white for the quilt top and the orange scribble for the backing.  I haven't used this brand of fusible batting before and I wasn't too happy with how it looked before I started quilting.  Those troughs in the quilt surface really had me worried.

Even more worried when the fabric lifted clean away from the batting as I started to quilt - I ironed over it again to refuse it.

Update at 19 August 2014:

I've used the Hobbs fusible batting now in two more quilts and not had a problem with the fabric lifting away from the batting during quilting - I'm assuming from this that some fabrics fuse more easily than others depending on the surface finish.

I cut out circles from the fat quarters using the Circle Savvy Ruler and created this design on top of the MM soft white solid.

I appliqued each circle in place right through the quilt sandwich using Aurifil 40/2 #1133 - Bright Orange.  I was disappointed to discover that this batting needs to be quilted every 4" - a bit close for my liking - so I decided to quilt in wavy lines vertically down the quilt, leaving the circles unquilted and hoping to mask the issues with the batting using Aurifil 50/2 #2024 - White.

The wavy lines worked just as I hoped, masking any fabric bubbles caused by the fusible basting and there were no further issues with the batting.  Given the wavy quilting the quilt was begging to be washed and left crinkly - not my style at all, but I think this time it works really well as the unquilted circle areas stay flat and are more pronounced.

So here's the photoshoot:

See how the applique looks on the back of the quilt

and a closer view

I love the Circle Savvy Ruler, it was a great buy that I'm sure will get lots of use of many years - the jury's out still on that Heirloom double sided fusible batting, nice not to use pins but doesn't give me the pristine, flat look I prefer when I use Quilter's Dream Request and I want to be able to quilt further apart than 4" if I choose to.  Just to add in case you've not yet tried it, I've also used the Quilter's Dream Cotton Fusion and that worked great, total adhesion, flat finish and you can quilt with up to an 8" gap.  The trouble is it's only fusible on one side - perfect when creating my wholecloth QAYG quilts but not much use for a normal quilt sandwich as you still need to pin or spray baste the quilt top or bottom.

Here's a summary of my thoughts on the fusible battings:

Quilter's Dream Fusion

Pros:
Available in 100% cotton and also 100% polyester
Quilt at up to 8" apart for cotton and 10" for poly
Fully adhered to fabric after ironing
Lies perfectly flat against fabric creating a great quilting surface
Great for QAYG Wholecloth

Cons:
Fusible only on one side

Hobb's Heirloom Fusible

Pros:
Double sided fusion
Repositionable
Requires no pins or spray baste
Can fuse quilt top and quilt back separately or at the same time

Cons:
80% Cotton/20% Polyester (a con for me as I don't like using polyester in my quilting)
Quilting surface isn't flat
Repositionable - so fabric doesn't fully adhere and can loosen and lift during quilting
Quilt at up to 4" apart


Have you used fusible batting?  If  you have do share your own stories in the comments, it's great to hear other's experiences and pick up tips - Chris :D

And finally, just so we don't forget why we're here - a last look at my Foxy Circle Quilt.

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Disclaimer: Some fabrics used were supplied by Cloud9 Fabrics at no charge to mbCD otherwise this post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.