Wedding Ring Problems

I always have multiple projects going in all the fiber crafts that I like to do. In the quilting arena, I do machine sewing or quilting during the day. At night, I sew on my latest hexie project (trying to finish the Halloween themed quilt) or I do English Paper Piecing. During the last few months, I must admit to buying a lot of paper pieces for a variety of EPP designs. And none of them have been easy patterns to do…

I’ve been gluing and sewing double wedding ring arcs for weeks and fiddling with layouts. Here is my latest. I have been fiddling with how to keep the colored arcs (pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple) separated and to have them form patterns. I will probably be doing a 9 x 9 layout and decided that using a white/floral ring in the middle might help with spacing the 6 colors. See where I’m headed?

The big issue that I have been mulling over is how to piece the very nasty middles together! Do you see how thin the points are? Many of the pieces in the bag are bent because of this. I did try one and it was impossible to glue to the point and it was so bulky! I thought that doing EPP would be easier, but now I wonder if foundation piecing might have been a better choice…

I have Googled like crazy and asked the young women at Paper Pieces, where I bought the papers, but no one has been much help. I have now decided to machine appliqué the rings to the background; only to encounter another decision –

In the top photo, I sewed a straight stitch about as close as I could manage on the arc. Can you see how the tiny edge is going to do nothing but catch and crease? The bottom photo shows a blanket stitch, and although that will take much more time to do, it will encase the edge nicely. I do intend to use this quilt so I want it to be sturdy.

And yet another decision; here is the back of the square. What do I do with that? And is using another tiny print white fabric the best background or should I audition some bright colors? I have spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking at what other quilters have chosen.

This quilt is still in a state of flux. If you have any suggestions or comments, I would appreciate the help!