Sharon, of Color Girl Quilts, created a really clever ruler for cutting curves called the Classic Curves Ruler.  She debuted it at spring market where her booth was hopping every time I walked by.  She sent me one of her rulers to try and I am so pleased with the results!  As you know, I paper piece everything so curved piecing isn’t my normal thing.  But I have done a bit before, particularly using Sizzix dies.  I had never cut my curves with a ruler before but found it surprisingly simple.  I followed Sharon’s directions for her Pisces quilt and precut my squares and then placed the ruler on top of them.  My rotary cutter fit right into a groove, and I got the perfect cut.

Sharon has a really good tutorial on her blog so I am not going to duplicate the “how to” here but rather direct you to take a look.  What I do know about curves, from my limited experience, is that a precise cut is really important.  Using this ruler, I was able to achieve that.  I also have to say that Sharon’s directions, both on the ruler packaging, and in her Pisces quilt pattern, are very clear with excellent diagrams.  I thought it would be difficult to piece precisely enough to make my rings match up but I was able to do so without a lot of extra effort.

I used Bari J’s Sage collection for Art Gallery Fabrics to make this runner. It’s a gift for someone who lives in Arizona who I think will appreciate the theme of the collection. Therefore, I wanted to make sure to include some big chunks of the fabric on the back so that all the prints get a moment to shine.

I was happy to find the perfect shade of Aurifil to quilt with. It’s #5015 in a 50 weight.

I decided to start quilting in concentric circles beginning with the 3/4 ring formed by the piecing on one end. Within that circle, I made a grid.

Then I just echoed the circle for the remainder of the runner. I am quite pleased with how it came out and am happy to recommend this ruler. It’s a great tool and I believe that Sharon is going to do really well with it!