The rest of the circles

   I needed this finish for the month.....I needed the satisfaction of seeing a project to its end.  But what makes this special is the story it tells to me.
    November 2015, I began the year long journey of the Quilty 365 challenge. Make a circle a day and in a year you have enough for a large quilt.
I sailed along until May 2016, and ended up in the hospital and rehab for months.






    Included in the circles are fabrics that create a picture of memories.....events, trips, people I hold dear, and some special fabrics shared from blogging friends.   And several cardinal fabrics claimed a spot too.
    During the months of therapy, I would go thru the stack of circles that I had, laying them out in different ways.






   Lots of floral fabrics--of course---and sewing notions are there too.  A few duplicates worked their way in and I let them have a place in this story.  They are a reminder to me that I often do repeat quilt patterns because that pattern or design fills a need in my creative soul.  
  I broke up the border on this one by inserting some extra squares and a few small circles made just for the border.   I like the contrast, and change in the fabric and size of the circles.  It says, "Don't take yourself so seriously".






   And don't forget to flip this one over!  I had some extra circles.....half circles, and a couple of full ones....but not enough to complete a full row on the front.  I stitched the half circles together and created the offset row for the back.    There was a lot of labor in these circles and halves.....I did not want to waste a single one.









   A better back view shows the quilting better.  Through out the center section I used a meandering curl.....between the circles and over the circles.  The stitching is open---not dense--to have a softer feel.  In the border I used several motifs....feathers. swirls, stacked teardrops, leave and vine.

The label was sewn to the back before quilting.


  This  is called "The Rest of My Story", a companion to The Therapy Quilt.

I thought it was interesting to compare the different arrangement for the layouts.    The Therapy Quilt (on the right)  has 3 extra large circles with selected circles laid out block to block around them.  A solid border finishes it off.

The Rest of My Story has a staggered layout with half circle blocks at alternating ends.  The border is broken up with the added squares and circles.
   And that's my story for February, it seems!  Plans for next months....up next.  Happy stitching.