Time to Quilt! A Marvelous Mini

For August, Island Batik challenged their ambassadors to make a Marvelous Mini.  We could use any techniques, the only stipulation was that it be no larger than 24" square. I have long wanted to make a quilted clock and this seemed like the perfect time. 

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, Hobbs, Schmetz, Aurifil, & Prairie Spirit Alpaca.

A Dresden block seemed perfect, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to make a color wheel.  As I've said before, no one can do a rainbow like Island Batik! I went through my scraps and collection of stash builder strips to choose the best color wheel I could.  I used the Chunky Dresden template from Julie of Crafty Quilter.  While I was cutting the blades, I decided to make more than one Dresden since the blades use so little fabric.  The red-orange was my limiting factor; I could only get three blades out of it, so three clocks it is!  The blades after being chain-pieced made a beautiful garland!

Once I pressed all my blades on my alpaca pressing mat from Paririe Spirit Alpaca, I assembled my fans.  I did all piecing and quilting with Schmetz needles. I decided on solid gray for the background and center circle.  I used an Elmer's disappearing purple glue stick to keep the Dresden in place while I stitched around each blade with Aurifil monofilament thread.  Then I switched to Aurifil #6726 Airstream for the quilting. 

 

The numbers were the hardest part.  I used to do a lot of rubber stamping and I still had a set of small number stamps.  I tested on some scrap and liked it, but then when I stamped on an actual wheel, it bothered me that the stamps didn't really show up well on a few of the darker colors, like the purple. 

 

I ended up printing out bubble letters from online, using a copier to get them to a size I liked, and then used my light box to trace them backwards so I could print onto heat-n-bond light printable sheets.  I then ironed onto Island Batik solid black fabric. The numbers are small enough that I did not stitch around them after fusing; I'm assuming they won't get much handling since the clock will presumably hang on a wall or be propped on shelf. 

 

Though the fabrics are all the same, I varied the starting color.  The one for me, I used purple as the 12.  The second clock is a birthday present for my friend Kate, whose amazing photographs I sometimes use here.  Kate's favorite color is blue, so her clock has blue in the 12 o' clock position.  For the third, I stuck with Roy-G-Biv and used red as the start of the wheel.I quilted each clock slightly differently.  The battings are also different, though they are all by Hobbs.  Since this was a small project, I was able to use up smaller bits.  The clock with the red 12 has Hobbs' fusible batting, which I absolutely love because it cuts out the need to baste.  The clock with the blue 12 has Hobbs bleached 80/20 batting and the purple 12 has their Thermore 100% polyester batting.  

 

solid gray on the back, quilting from the Dresden blades

I bought 14" artist's canvases and Husband helped me staple the quilted sandwich to the canvases.  If I had it to do over again, I probably wouldn't have layered and quilted the clock, I would just staple the top to the canvas.  The bulk of the batting plus top & backing made for a lot to staple, especially in the corners.  The clock mechanisms were pretty easy to install. 

I'm so happy with my finished clocks!  Marvelous Mini was a fun challenge!