Rookie Mistakes could be another title, even though I don’t consider myself a rookie. Both of these ideas are true for me this week.
I’ve had Krakow Circles kicking around since Spring, and when I needed a small something to finish, I chose this.
A quilt from Lois Parish Evans (Australia): Mandala 6 • Winter Solstice
After seeing Lois Evans’ quilts at Carrefour I decided to attempt her tiny stipple. Okay, not as tiny as hers, but a reasonable facsimile. Tiny victory, on this one too.
Then I continued the small stuff with swirly-circles. Tired of that, and not wanting a whole quilt to be that way, for the borders I drew on a wavy line, added more lines, then finally, a circle to echo all the others. Cool, I thought, a close-to-the-end tiny victory. Now, on to the binding. I chose to do it from the back-wrap-to-the-front, as for some quilts, I’ve come to love this look of the finished binding being on top.
Trouble.
I didn’t count on/remember/realize that the teensy stippling would draw up the quilt that much. Now those corner yellow circles would be cut off by the binding. I snipped a few threads, releasing them, and finished sewing the binding.
None of my circle templates would work, so I traced the end of a spool of thread onto freezer paper, cut those out and shaped them for appliqué. Except for one. That one I had to make even smaller. Yes, I do personalize my patchwork.
Kraków Circles, quilt #309, 28″ square
I started designing this at the end of May, after our return from Poland, and cut the first shapes June 3, 2025.
I think the back looks cool — it’s an older ombre-type fabric.
Labels are oldies from Northcott, by Deborah Edwards. I found them when we had to pull out the sewing desk from the wall when the new blinds went in. (Hmmm. There’s a lesson here somewhere.)
Finished: November 3, 2025. It’s a little victory to get this one done and it will hang in my sewing room, reminding me of Krakow’s churches and our trip there this past May. I’ll take tiny victories, these days.
Hope you have some too–
Other Posts about Kraków’s Circles
Kraków Circles (making)
Quilting and the Churches of Kraków
Pattern has been updated: November 2025
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i love the back, too!
And I would count this as a big victory! Applique, circles, you designed it yourself, and you met the challenge of stipple shrink.
Victories indeed! I love that stipple – ooh it looks so good. Will I try that?, hmm, I just might give that a go, yes. So good in this instance, as are all the quilting choices you made. That little quilted circle opposite the yellow arc of circles – so good! And I love love that you ran up to that corner circle and went OOPS DARN and figured out how to fix it and yes you fixed it perfectly. I just did my first machine sewn binding on a recent quilt, back to front, and I am thinking about doing more. Yours looks very good here. And it’s so durable. Lastly, I love this finish – it’s a beautiful little quilt, the colors are so happy and bright, and it makes for such a wonderful memento of your trip. So, I would observe no rookie moves here, just a quilter at the top (ish) of her game, enjoying the process.
ps. that backing does look very cool
I love all the teeny tiny stipple quilting! It is a great quilt; what I’d call a ‘good victory’!
I love a tiny stipple!!!! I find stippling very underrated. Love that blue and yellow.
Lovely finish Elizabeth.
I think you probably know that I really appreciate dense quilting (when the quilt asks for it), and I think this quilt finished out beautifully. It was definitely worth the time to personalize the four outer corners. And I agree – as much as I love hand binding, sometimes the right finish is to do it all by machine and I much prefer the method you employed here. Congratulations on the finish!
It’s ironic to see that sometimes our confidence can turn into a challenge. I think you overcame that very well. Looking at that quilt, no one would ever know the thought process it took. I think I prefer your size of stippling than the inspiration piece. Your quilt is beautiful. Thanks for sharing. I like the look of the small stippling but it does take a good amount of time. I tend to quilt densely anyway but I do try to take that into consideration when I have a large quilt.
OK, duly warned about tiny stipples, should I ever try them! Your quilt is beautiful, as always, and that was a good save!
This is a stunning quilt. Great save on the corners and I love the contrast between the densely quilted areas and the petals and circles. The back looks embossed 🙂
I love all the tiny stipple quilting! Your challenge with this reminded me of my challenge with the borders of my Poppy quilt. Having good ideas doesn’t mean the process will be easy but it’s usually worth the extra effort. Definitely worth the effort for this one. It’s a wonderful finish.