Crop Circles

111cm X 162cm (43" X 63")

On-line I saw an aerial photo of crop circles. I've always enjoyed seeing them on a flight myself and I thought it would make an interesting quilt. I had a lot of greens left over from a quilt I made for my daughter and then started collecting some mustard/saffron colored prints along with browns. I tend to like scrap quilts with a color theme. I'll usually buy only a half a yard of any one fabric.

from buzzfeed.com

Hand applique is great for a take-a-long hand work project. For this one, I cut out the mustard squares (larger than their finished cut size would be) and used freezer paper circles for the greens. I always had something to applique (did a lot of them during my 30 minute lunch break at work). I put the finished ones on the design wall, then re-trimmed the squares and sewed them together with the narrow brown sashing, all this by machine. 
The reason for the 'larger than their finished cut size' and 're-trimmed squares', is because after handling the fabric to applique fraying can occur. I cut out the back of the appliqued circle, remove the freezer paper, then press and trim.

Close-up. 15cm blocks, .75cm sashing

I chose a random angle for the whole quilt to be. I didn't want a 45 degree placement. 
The border is random strips of the browns sewn together in .75cm and 1.5cm widths. I threw in some mustard pieces too. The strips are joined together with 45 degree seams. I carefully mitered the corners.

Back view

For the back I bought some extra wide high-quality muslin, (so no piecing) and hand dyed it with fiber reactive procion dye. I got lucky and picked the color I wanted without having to mix it.

I'm a hand quilter so after several months of quilting, it's done! I usually quilt in the evenings with a good light and the TV on. This quilt was small enough to take along to guild meetings to quilt there too.