Happy Pi Day!

Monday, March 14, 2022

Happy Pi Day!! Of course we're celebrating the big day! We are having circle foods for every meal - and pie of course! And I always make a Pi Day quilt! This is my sixth year of Slice of Pi Quilts, and this is my sixth Pi Day quilt!

Pi Day circle quilt

Take a look back at all the Pi Day quilts I've made! 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021
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This year's Pi Day quilt started with a single square of solid black fabric. I pressed some Heat-N-Bond Lite to the back (though in hindsight, I should have used Lite Steam-A-Seam 2), and got out my Olfa Circle Rotary Cutter.

Olfa circle rotary cutter

I use this circle cutter SO often! (I just used it a couple weeks ago to make this buttons quilt!)

Cutting circles with the Olfa Circle Rotary Cutter

I marked a dot in the center of the square, then I set the cutter to the biggest circle and cut. Then I adjusted the cutter to be 1/4" smaller and cut another circle. I kept adjusting it, 1/4" at a time, and cutting circles until I had quite a collection! All of these were cut from just ONE 10" square!

Pi Day circle quilt

I peeled the paper off the back of the rings and arranged them onto a quilt sandwich made with Art Gallery solid white fabric on top, Warm & White batting inside, and a scrap piece of backing fabric.

Pi Day circle quilt

Then I dug through my stash of solids to find a mix of really bright colors of Kona.

Pi Day circle quilt

Next, I took a piece of the Heat-N-Bond Lite and placed it on top of the quilt top. I traced each section where the circles overlapped, drawing the line in the center of the solid black ring fabric. I numbered these as I went so I wouldn't get them out of order.

Pi Day circle quilt

A quick press of each shape onto the solid colors...

Raw edge applique

...and then I cut them out with scissors.

Raw edge applique

I was able to carefully slide the colored bits under the rings.

Pi Day circle quilt

Once in position, I pressed them in place with my mini iron.

Pi Day circle quilt

At this point, I was really giddy that the process was working! I pin basted the sandwich so I could quilt it on my Juki machine.

Pin basting

I quilted straight vertical lines, and used the edge of the foot as a guide for the spacing.

Walking foot quilting

I used 50wt white Aurifil thread for the quilting. It adds a great texture to the quilt, but didn't take away from the colored circles. You can see the white stitches on top of the black rings if you look closely, but I'm just ignoring those. My husband think I should use a black Sharpie to color them to match the rings, but I haven't decided on that yet.

Trimming the quilt after quilting

I did not want the binding to be a distraction from the design of the quilt, so decided a solid white binding was the best choice. I machine sewed it on - tutorial HERE

Machine binding

I even remembered to sew in one of my labels when I sewed the binding on!

Satin quilt label

This was such a fun quilt to make!

Pi Day circle quilt

I  haven't sewn just for fun in quite awhile, so this was a great exercise for my brain!

Pi Day circle quilt

My oldest two boys helped hold the quilt up on the neighbor's house so I could take pictures. 

Straight line quilting and machine binding

I'm going to let this one sit around for a bit, but I'm thinking I might enter it into QuiltCon next year. I don't normally make quilts for shows, but this one is modern enough that it just might fit in there! I love the balance of bright colors and negative space!

Pi Day circle quilt

Now I'm off to make some circle foods and celebrate the day! What are you doing to celebrate Pi Day today??

13 comments:

  1. This is so fabulous ! Modern, clean, fresh and fun. The best kind of quilt !

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  2. I love the quilt and i have a couple of questions. What is the size of this quilt? And #2, why do you sy you probably should have used Steam a seam 2 instead of Heat and Bond Lite? I really liked your thought process and your creativity

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  3. Happy Pi Day!! I love your use of the single square to make all those circles - I may need to get me one of those circle-cutting devices!!
    Today's Pi is Pizza Pi, in the evening, and maybe a savory chicken salad pie for lunch. I hadn't ever thought about a quilt to commemorate the day, so thanks for the inspiration!!

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  4. I love this! Such a clever idea with the colors in overlapping areas! Happy Pi Day!

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  5. Such a fun happy quilt. Thanks for the inspiration :)

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  6. Love it! Nancy A: SewingGranda@gmail.com

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  7. Always fun to see what you cook up for Pi day! Enjoy your circle food!

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  8. 👏👏👏 I always think of you and look forward to your Pi Day quilt, Laura!!! Super clean and modern! So good on the easy construction method!

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  9. I love your quilt so much!! I many have to give that a try! Always love to see what you come up with! Happy Pi day!

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  10. Such a cheerful quilt for Pi day. So happy you reminded me what day it is. I think we'll have some pie, too.

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  11. Genius quilt! I love it! Happy Pi Day to you!!!

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  12. Wow, your modern quilt is fabulous! I love your circles, and this cutter looks perfect and it's a very clever way to make a lot of circles. Ha'Pi Day ;)

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