Sharon Holland Rambler pattern rant
 

I'm making a wedding gift for a friend and when I saw the Sharon Holland Rambler patter on Instagram, I knew it would be perfect. I picked out six fabrics and downloaded the pattern. I didn't read the whole pattern and I quickly realized I should have. Sigh.

It's designed to be sewn with the specific fabrics as show. Because of saying "fabric A, B, or C" it says "paisley, tan tossed floral and geometric prints". What? Okay, I got around that by labelling the picture on the front with HER names for each fabric and then made a post-it note for myself of MY fabrics to keep everything straight.

Then I started cutting. I've been doing this for decades, but I'm easily annoyed apparently and don't like cutting pieces that are 10 3/8 and 4 1/8 inches. Ugh. But still, I persevered until I had everything cut.

But wait, there's a paper template to cut the blunt flying geese. I used tape on my plastic ruler that was laying on top of the paper template to mark it off so I didn't have to use the paper. I'm a genius! Then I sewed, ironed and trimmed and thought 'that's dumb, that the template is an odd size."

And then..... I noticed the one inch square drawing for scale. And after spending TWO hours to this point... my scale was off. My printer is set to 100% but I hadn't double checked the scale of the template before trimming and yep, like a newbie, I wasted two hours!

To top it off.... I didn't have enough of one fabric to cut more. Sigh. So after having spent $200 on gorgeous fabrics for this quilt, I had to go to the LQS and spend another $20.

It's a darn good thing I love the girl I'm making this for because I'm frustrated! And I have 25 days left to get it finished :P

Thanks for listening to me rant. My next quilt will be of my own design. I am not a fan of patterns, especially if they're written by a fabric designer, apparently....

I feel your pain! There are certainly better pattern writers than others out there. Sometimes the way a pattern is written just doesn't compute with the way my brain is wired to I just move on and find another pattern. Just think this wedding quilt will be memorable to you in more than one way Haha.

OH you sweet thing, i'm so sorry for you. Persevere, you will get it done!https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/hunf.png

I feel your pain as well. Awhile ago I purchased Deb Tuckers pattern, Signs of Autumn, from a local quilt shop. Fabric from the shop was included, so I didn't feel too guilty about spending a decent amount of money on the project. Until I got home and read the directions which called for not one, not two, but three separate specialty rulers, which of course I could purchase from the pattern makers website for $25 each!!! I WAS FURIOUS!!!! Bottom line....this pattern will never be made!!!!

Always a good idea to read those patterns all the way through- I’ve done that and found by the end of reading— nope, I’m not dealing with this one—
im sure your quilt will be Beautiful and Happily received- sometimes the frustration we put our selves through turns out to be the best one yet.

Are the blocks oblong and not square? I love a challenge and after studying this quilt, thought the blocks would be 9 1/2" (made like a 9 square block) with the sashing cut 5" wide, which brings the quilt to the sizes given.

There are quilt designers who do a great job writing patterns, and there are some who don't. A quilt I'm working on has 504 2" HST's in it. I wasn't thinking when I started cutting, I just followed the directions as given - a scad of squares that then needed to be marked and sewed on either side of the line. There are other methods that would have been SO much easier and faster. No mention of any other methods was made. It's my fault for not thinking, just getting at it without considering where I was going.

Your rant is about as good as the one I did lately about buying a pattern book with a bunny quilt on the cover only to have it arrive in the mail and the pattern isn't in there! As a matter of fact none of the ones on the cover were actually in the book. Double Grrrrr.

Disappointing. Most of Deb Tucker’s patterns use her rulers. I have many of her rulers and use them frequently - but never bought them three at a time. That said, to me they are worth the investment- blocks come out perfectly which makes me happy.