If you like things nice, easy and quick, then you’ll like this quarter-circle (QC) block design called the “Love Ring”. You can use this lovely block to make a Love Ring Wall Hanging Quilt for Mother’s Day. I’ll show you the great Four-At-Once Quarter-Circle shortcut to making sixteen quarter-circle blocks using four 10-inch square blocks.

                                                          Love Ring Pieced Quilt Block

As you can see from the Love Ring pieced quilt block, quarter circle blocks are beautiful and versatile. But sewing quarter circles the traditional way requires sewing a concave curve (hourglass shape) to a convex curve (football shape). It is complicated and sometimes the quarter circle square has puckers. The Four-At-Once Quarter-circle shortcut is a ‘no curves’ method that is easy, eliminates puckers and enables you to quickly make four quarter circle blocks at one time.

In May 2021 I made my first Love Ring Pieced Block Wall Hanging Quilt using a ‘sew no curves’ shortcut for making Four-At-Once quarter circle blocks. This blog is inspired by that wonderful experience. The floral design of the Love Ring Wall Hanging Quilted Block evokes the feeling of an everlasting bouquet for Mother’s Day.

                                                                Quarter-Circle Blocks

You’ll only need three types of quarter-circle blocks to make the pieced Love Ring block. Block A, B & C.

                                                Block Variations That Use Quarter-Circles

The Love Ring quilt features sixteen quarter-circle (QC) blocks created with the aid of fusible stabilizer. By flipping the quarter-circle blocks you can create hundreds of pieced block designs.

Tip: Fusible stabilizer is a lightweight material that has glue dots on one side. It’s the modern way to stabilize and glue applique to a background fabric. Any iron-on fusible cut-away stabilizer is perfect for this applique method. The stabilizer weight can be light or medium.

I’ll explain how to make a 21.5-inch square Love Ring Wall Hanging Quilt from sixteen QC blocks and two borders. In part one and two you’ll learn how to assemble the love ring block. In part three I’ll explain what to do to make a wall hanging.

• Part One: Make sixteen QC blocks from four 10-inch square blocks.
• Part Two: Piece the sixteen QC blocks following the Love Ring Pieced Block Layout
• Part Three: Make a wall hanging from the Love Ring Quilt Block

Be prepared for this project. See “Supplies and Tools”, “Fabrics” and “Getting Ready To Sew”.

These are the tools and supplies that I used to make the block and the wall hanging.

                                                                  Supplies Close-up

• Iron-on fusible stabilizer
• Coordinating cotton threads
• Cotton batting: Cut one 25-inch square, if you are going to make the wall hanging
• A ¼-inch presser foot
• A walking foot
• Your favorite applique foot
• Long flower head pins and Sewing Clips
• Heat Erasable Fabric Marking Pens
• 6 x 24 quilting ruler and a 6-inch square or smaller quilting ruler
• Rotating Cutting Mat
• 60 mm Rotary Cutter
• Scissors and Thread Snips
• Rolling seam presser (optional)
• Pinky shears (optional)
• Quilt Hangers (optional)

• ½ yard of blue-green fabric:
  • Cut one 10-inch square to make four ‘A’ block backgrounds.
  • Cut 3.5-inch wide by length of fabric (LOF) for border 2
  • Cut 2.5-inch wide by length of fabric (LOF) for the binding
• 1/8 yard of floral fabric:
  • Two 10-inch squares to make eight QCs for “B’ block backgrounds
  • One 7-inch square to make four QCs for ‘A’ block
  • One 7-inch square to make four QCs for ‘C’ block
  • Cut 2.5-inches wide by LOF for border 1
• 1/8 yard of pink fabric cut:
  
  • One 10-inch square to make four ‘C’ block backgrounds
  • Two 7-inch squares to make eight QCs for ‘B’ block
• One 25-inch square of batting
• One 25-inch square of coordinating backing fabric  
• Four 7-inch squares of iron-on fusible stabilizer

Use your favorite way to prep for a new project or try my proven, stress-free method. See “Getting Ready To Quilt-The Ultimate Checklist”.

The Four-At-Once Quarter-Circle shortcut is the easiest way to make multiple quarter-circle blocks at one time. It requires you to do three things: Sew a circle, applique that circle to a square and cut the resulting circle and square into quarters.

You’ll create three different Quarter-Circle blocks: ‘A’ block, ‘B’ block and ‘C’ block using the Four-At-Once Quarter-Circle shortcut. Place the image of quarter-circle blocks A, B and C in your workspace for easy reference.

Let’s start by making ‘A’ Block.

First Step

Get one 7-inch square of floral fabric and place it on your work area right side up. You’ll make four Quarter-Circles from this fabric. The floral fabric is your circle fabric for ‘A’ Block.

                                                Seven-inch Square With Midpoint Folds

Second Step

Find the midpoints by folding this square vertically and horizontally.

                                                              Circle Drawn On Stabilizer

Third Step

Get one 7-inch square of fusible stabilizer and draw a 6.5-inch circle on the non-glue side. Use household items like a large tub of butter or a pet bowl with a circumference of 6.5-inches to draw the 6.5-inch circle using a heat erasable pen.

                                                      Pinned Stabilizer and Circle Fabric

Fourth Step

Place the stabilizer on top of the floral fabric. The floral fabric must be right side up. The drawn circle must face you. Pin to prevent fabric shifting. Important: Do not iron the stabilizer.

Fifth Step

Straight stitch the drawn circle with a 1.7 stitch length. A shorter length makes it easier to sew a smooth circle shape.

                                                                    Trimmed Circle

Sixth Step

Use scissors or pinking shears to trim around the sewn circle leaving a ¼-inch. Pinch the center of the stabilizer and separate it from the fabric.

                                        Stabilizer Trimmed 1.5-inches from the Circle Stitches

Seventh Step

Snip the center of the stabilizer and trim it 1.5-inches from the stitches. Only cut the stabilizer. Flip the stabilizer so that it is on the back of the circle. Carefully smooth the stabilizer along the edges of the circle.

                                                          Close-up of Rolled Stabilizer

Eighth Step

Roll the stabilizer about an extra 1/8-inch toward the center of the circle. This will prevent the stabilizer from being seen on the front.

                                                            Circle with Midpoint Folds

Ninth Step

Grab (1) 10-inch square of blue-green fabric and place it on your work area with the right side up. This is the background for the QC ‘A’ block. Get the midpoints by folding it in half vertically and horizontally.

                                                  Circle Centered On Background Square

Tenth Step

Use the center folds of the background square to help center the circle. The background and circle must be right side up. Follow the stabilizer’s usage instructions to affix the circle to the background fabric and applique the circle to the background. Press the appliqued block flat and trim to 10-inches square.

                                      Cutting Lines Shown On Circle and Background Fabric

Eleventh Step

Extend the midpoint lines of the block. Use these lines to cut the block into quarters. On the wrong side of each block, carefully trim away the extra background fabric and stabilizer to ¼-inch.

                                                          Four Quarter Circle ‘A’ Blocks

You just made four ‘A’ blocks using the Four-At-Once Quarter-Circle method. Trim each quarter-circle block into a 4.5 inch square.

                                                        Eight Quarter Circle ‘B’ Blocks

Make the ‘B’ blocks with two 7-inch square blocks of pink fabric and two 10-inch squares of floral fabric. The pink fabric is the circle and the floral fabric is the background. Follow the Four-At-Once QC Steps 1 to 11 twice, to make a total of eight quarter-circle ‘B’ blocks.

                                                          Four Quarter Circle ‘C’ Blocks

Make ‘C’ blocks with one 7-inch square floral block and one 10-inch pink block. The floral fabric is the circle and the pink fabric is the background. Follow QC ‘A’ block steps 1 to 11 to make a total of four QC ‘C’ blocks.

Congratulations, your sixteen quarter-circle blocks are completed!

                                                        Love Ring Pieced Block Layout

Follow the Love Ring pieced block layout to position the QC blocks. Sew the quarter circle blocks to create the row, then sew the rows together.

Turn this Love Ring Quilt Block into a lovely wall hanging by following these instructions.

                                            Trimmed and Squared Love Ring Pieced Block

Use your favorite method to trim and square the Love Ring pieced block. It should measure 16-inches square. Or you can try my tried and true method in the Learn How To Square Up A Quilt on the Madam Sew blog.

                                              Love Ring Pieced Block with Borders Added

Sew the 1.5-inch wide floral border to the pieced Love Ring block. Add the 3.5-inch wide blue-green fabric border. Madam Sew’s “Planning Borders For Quilts” blog has the perfect quilter’s guide to borders.

You’ve created the Love Ring quilt top. Trim and square the quilt top to approximately 22-inches square, prior to making the quilt sandwich

Tip: We are human that means sewing perfect ¼-inch seam allowances 100% of the time is an unreasonable expectation. Squaring and trimming the quilt top adjusts for less than perfect seam allowances which can make your quilt top appear off center. And it creates straight edges for the perimeter. See Madam Sew’s “Learn How To Square Up A Quilt” for a great square and trim technique.

This stage of the process is a quilting basic. See Madam Sew’s “Learn How to Quilt, The Best Series for Beginners” blog for a quick refresher. It is an excellent resource that covers the quilting process from start to finish.

Make the quilt sandwich by placing the 25-inch square backing fabric in your work area with the wrong side up. Next, place the 25-inch square batting on the backing fabric. Place the pieced Love Ring quilt top on the batting right side up. The batting and backing should be larger than the Love Ring quilt top. Then baste or pin the quilt sandwich. Use your favorite quilt pattern. I chose a meandering pattern. Carefully trim and square the Love Ring Quilt so that your binding edges are straight and even.

Binding the Love Ring quilt with a fabric that matches border 2 will frame your work beautifully. Sew the binding to the front of the quilt using a walking foot and a ¼-inch seam allowance. Join the binding tails your favorite way or try my invisible join method in the “How To Join Quilt Binding” Madam Sew blog. Sew the binding to the back of the quilt by sewing machine or by hand. Suggestion: Create a quilt label to memorialize this project.

                            Finished Mother’s Day Easy Quarter Circle Blocks Floral Wall Hanging

Use a box of Madam Sew quilt hangers to display your outstanding work. You’ve unlocked the secret to making easy, fast and accurate quarter-circle blocks. You’ve aced the Love Ring quilt block thereby opening a world of quilt design variations. And you’ve mastered fusible stabilizer applique which applies to any simple shape imaginable.

May this Mother’s Day wall hanging inspire you to use these techniques in other projects. See other Madam Sew blogs and videos:

• Madam Sew Free Quilting Patterns
• Sheepfold Quilt Block Tutorial Video
• Embroidered Wall Hanging

May your quilting always bring you joy!

Ernie Grant
Guest Blogger For Madam Sew

Ernestine “Ernie” Grant is an avid quilter with over 18 years experience and is the owner of the custom baby quilt business www.kalibabyquilts.com. As an African American living in Harlem, NY her view of quilting is shaped by her heritage and the elders who taught her–Quilting is not just thread, fabric and stitches. It is art, it is love, it is community.