Inspired by a couple of quilts at my local quilt store, Quilter's Cupboard (Atascadero), I purchased the Quick Curve rulers by Sew Kind of Wonderful.
After all that curved piecing with the smaller quilt, I was ready to give this a try.
Initially, I was really impressed with the instructions and with what you could do with this ruler, getting the arc consistent and not wasting much fabric.
There was a lot of squaring up to do after sewing all the blocks together and I think it was here that I started seeing a problem. I had followed the directions closely though and couldn't see what I had done wrong. The background pieces were not the same in each block and I couldn't really figure out what to do about it though I tried trimming to get them uniform and then tested sewing them together. That wasn't helping but I plowed ahead since all the blocks were already sewn together.
I went on to sew on the corner connector pieces hoping this would fix some of the issues I was seeing. No, it didn't and the pattern's squaring up instructions were a little too "casual". Fortunately, I realized that I needed to figure out a consistent measure for the corner pieces so that when the blocks were sewn together, the triangles would meet to make up that square.
The pattern had said to watch a YouTube video about curved piecing that I had watched but it was at this point that I also found one specific to Metro Rings. It mentioned not pressing the blocks until both sides of the background pieces were sewn onto the rings. This may have been the defining mistake I made but I'm still not sure. The overall effect of the design is still clear in the finished quilt but I am really not happy with the inconsistent points (or complete lack of) in the inside rings as well as the inconsistency of the how the outside pieces come together. After looking further on their website at blog post comments, apparently I am not alone in this frustration. I am going to try again with the added information that came from the Metro Rings video. I have added the measurements that were not included in the pattern for keeping the connector triangles accurate and I will see if I can't get this to look like it was designed. I do think there is hope! but you really need all the information before you start working with this ruler.
I used Hobb's 80/20 batting and Feathered Curls pantograph for the quilting.
After all that curved piecing with the smaller quilt, I was ready to give this a try.
I went on to sew on the corner connector pieces hoping this would fix some of the issues I was seeing. No, it didn't and the pattern's squaring up instructions were a little too "casual". Fortunately, I realized that I needed to figure out a consistent measure for the corner pieces so that when the blocks were sewn together, the triangles would meet to make up that square.
The pattern had said to watch a YouTube video about curved piecing that I had watched but it was at this point that I also found one specific to Metro Rings. It mentioned not pressing the blocks until both sides of the background pieces were sewn onto the rings. This may have been the defining mistake I made but I'm still not sure. The overall effect of the design is still clear in the finished quilt but I am really not happy with the inconsistent points (or complete lack of) in the inside rings as well as the inconsistency of the how the outside pieces come together. After looking further on their website at blog post comments, apparently I am not alone in this frustration. I am going to try again with the added information that came from the Metro Rings video. I have added the measurements that were not included in the pattern for keeping the connector triangles accurate and I will see if I can't get this to look like it was designed. I do think there is hope! but you really need all the information before you start working with this ruler.
I used Hobb's 80/20 batting and Feathered Curls pantograph for the quilting.
And with that, it will be off to my oldest sister who has yet to receive one of my quilts. Hopefully she won't be bothered by the inconsistency. Thank you for reading to the end of this long post. I hope the information helps someone.
I have moved on to sewing simple squares together :-)
I think the quilt is beautiful. I can't even see the problems you mentioned, even though I looked. I love the Quilter's Cupboard. It is responsible for getting me rehooked on quilting. I discovered it in 1998 when my son attended school in SLO. I
ReplyDeleteneed to take a road trip to revisit the area soon.
Tell yourself the points are off "as designed", maybe that will help with the frustration. Regardless the quilt turned out really pretty - your sister will love it.
ReplyDeleteThat looks beautiful. I have the ruler, but have yet to attempt it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a beautiful quilt, I love the colors too. Sorry you had so much frustration with it. I have not done this pattern(not sure I want to now!), but have used others of theirs that I did like a lot. Wish I could remember who else is doing or just finished this one recently, wonder if she had problems.
ReplyDeleteThis turned out very pretty. I hadn't noticed the inconsistencies until I went back to look. I remember now that when I used the ruler, I saw that this could be an issue and made some extra marks on something to keep them uniform for myself. I remember this one being one of the first patterns for the ruler, so I'm sure that's where the difference comes from in Vicki's experience.
ReplyDeleteIt ended up beautiful even though you had so much trouble with it. I'm sure you'll get used to using the ruler AND that your sister will absolutely love her quilt!
ReplyDelete