Keep Calm and Spiral On!

[g8dhorse7]

I woke up this morning with quilting on my mind. I've NEVER attempted to quilt a spiral (as you know from my previous posts that I'm NOT a quilter) but I decided to give it a go. I use scrap blocks to practice on from time to time and this one with the solid back seemed like the perfect one to showcase all my mistakes. I put the walking foot, drew a starting spiral, set the stitch to 1, turned the speed dial on Juju to turtle, took a deep breath, and put the pedal down! At about the 6th rotation I increased speed a little and also increased the stitch length to 2.2. I used the left side of the walking foot as a guide and spiraled on. Keep Calm and Spiral On!

I stopped when I hit the edges and with the idea that I was going to see so many goofs, I flipped it over. WOW! I was so surprised to see that it was (fairly) even! I'm going to give 90% of the credit to Juju and 10% to me for even trying to do this. lol With practice I will get the spacing more even but I am so thrilled with this first ever attempt.

If any of you have tips and tricks for quilting spirals...I'm all ears! I feel like I just took my (limited) quilting to a new level.
first spiral attempt.jpg spiral front.jpg

[bubba]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Looks like you did good!!

[songbird857]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

That is beautiful! Certainly doesn't look like a 'first attempt' to me... My FMQ foot should be arriving any day (hopefully today!). I can't wait to try my hand at it

[Vickie1965]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Congrats! Super fantastic!

[Lilly]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

This is very interesting to me. I've never seen this done. what a great idea. I think I'd like to do this for some of my table toppers on my list - I could use them for trivets or hot pads or whatever. Thanks so much for sharing - and btw - you did a great job!

[Wwena]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

It looks fantastic, wtg!

[Lil Helen]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Good for you.Great that you are willing to try something new.It looks great to me

[ilive2craft2]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

It sure doesn't look like a first attempt at a spiral to me! You did great!

[GrammaBabs]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Someone posted a link about "design wall" (Klasien I think).. this link had the most wonderful modern quilts and a tutorial about spiral quilting....B

[pcrihfield]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Looks great, I love the spiral quilted quilts.

[Hulamoon]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Looks great! I'll just add that there is a quilting bar you put on your walking foot that allows you to sew farther apart. I bought one but I'll practice like you did

[grannyann]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Wow. I can't believe this is your first go at it. I wish my practice FMQ looked as good as yours. Great job.

[g8dhorse7]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Thank you all! I will say, I never knew that I could sew curves with a walking foot! I've never attempted to do anything other than a straight line stitch so this is awesome for me...a person who has never been able to master FMQ. I just pulled out more practice sammiches and I made a spiral flower and...drum roll...some curvy leaves! Oh, the places I can go! There is a class at the QS where I purchased Juju on May 9th (too long to wait!) that is all about thread drawing. I'm signed up! Who knows, I may be able to say that I'm a quilter one day

[Smg1678]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Soooo pretty. You do not look like a beginner

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Re: Keep Calm and Spiral On!

Debbie-HDWench took a simple quilt pattern to a whole new level by spiral quilting her Iron Quilter entry, and came out among the top 6. It looks very time consuming but interesting!