Review: Mariner's Compass CD-ROM

Mariner's Compass blocks are among the most beautiful of all quilt blocks, but also among the most intimidating. It's not just that they require accurate piecing that's off-putting -- many blocks do. It's the combination of requiring accurate piecing with circles, even circles within circles if you choose one of the more spectacular blocks, that makes many quilters give up before they've even started. If you've been one of these quilters, the Mariner's Compass Edition of Block Quilt by Judy Mathieson and the Quilt-Pro team is for you.

Mariner's Compass is a standalone CD-ROM, you don't need to have any other quilting software to use it. It contains over 100 Mariner's Compass blocks, from relatively simple 4-point blocks, to 64-point blocks (some people must have a lot of patience!) as well as some offset blocks and variations.

Templates or paper foundations can be printed for any block. The program automatically selects the templates you need to create each design, but if you wish to print out only one, you can do so. With paper foundations, it'll tell you how many pages it's going to take to print out. There're several print options -- from printing solid colours or fabric patterns to template outlines -- and you can set your seam width on the templates to whatever you choose.

The blocks can be sized however large or small you choose, and if you don't select the "keep proportions" box, you make any block into an off-set design. The one thing that could've been easier is where you change between inches and millimetres, but then I guess this is something you'll do only once. You click on the "foundation" button and then on the inch/millimetre drop box to select the unit of measurement you want. Whatever you choose will then apply to everything, from size of block to printing page margins.

The "Help" information is clear and (as one always hopes but don't always get) very helpful. The CD-ROM doesn't come with a booklet, only instructions on how to get the program running. For any other info on using the program, simply click on the "help" button. The program is quite intuitive to use if you're familiar with Windows-based programs -- such as the web browser you're using to view this review -- but if you're new to computers you'll probably want to print out this section so you can refer to it easily.

Hidden in the section called "Goodies" are two helpful articles -- "How to Paper Piece a Mariner's Compass Block with Freezer Paper Foundations" and "Judy's tips for constructing Mariner's Compass Blocks" which are worth printing out and reading carefully.

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