Quilted Circles

One of the items I bought at the Road 2 CA quilt show was a set of Quilter's Rule nestled circled templates to use on my HQ Sweet 16 machine. Using plastic templates are new to me, but I used masking tape and felt shapes as guides when I quilt on my Viking, so I decided to give the templates a try. I LOVE circles, so I bought the whole set and hoped for the best.

Here's the wholes set nestled together. The little rectangles are like sticky backed sand paper that I added to each circle to prevent them from slipping. The fabric it's sitting on was my first practice piece.

I've taken some of the circles taken away so you can see how the increments break apart. I placed one template on the marked guideline, held on tight and stitched around it. Apparently, an easier way is to tape several rings together (say 5) with an X of blue painters tape, place on the fabric and stitch. I didn't find this out until after I did all this stitching! I have since tried the tape version and found that it is easier than trying to hold one of these skinny rings still. So, don't do what I did.

 Here's the result of my circle play time. It's not too bad as long as you don't look too close! I'm not used to quilting between the lines like this and adjusting the size of your pattern as you go around in a circle. It sort of reminds me of a spirograph . . . which I loved as a kid. I think these templates will help make my circles a lot more accurate.