Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Spiraling and Dancing

I'm slowly working on the spiral quilting on my practice quilt. It's not going very well. I now have three more spirals mostly done. I use a template for the center, and I'll come back and FMQ on the lines later. The outside line from the template serves as my guide for the gauge on my even-feed foot, so I'm doing the even-feed work first and I'll come back and FMQ all the centers later. As frustrating as this is, I will get it done by the end of the year. And I will get better at it and it will get easier.

Since the spiral quilting is so frustrating, I've been rewarding myself with a little piecing:

They'll be Dancing Plus blocks when they're trimmed down. My bee-mates in Sew Bee It made Dancing Plus blocks for me which I received in November. I've been making some of them occasionally, too.
 
I'm rewarding myself for making progress on the spiral quilting by playing with these little blocks on the wall. I need 18 more to complete the columns at the right and add another row at the bottom for a throw-size quilt.

I can see in the photo that I need to move some blocks around - too many darks too close together. I'll wait 'til I get the new ones done and then swap them out. When I trim up my latest ones, I need to make them mostly dance to the right. I seem to have more dancing to the left already.

Link ups: Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
                Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times

To everyone reading this, I wish you a very merry Christmas / happy holiday season. Thanks for visiting!
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. Yvonne from Quilting JetgirlDecember 23, 2015 at 8:31 AM

    I hope that the spirals start to feel smoother and easier as you continue to work on the practice quilt. Merry Christmas to you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LA PaylorDecember 23, 2015 at 8:41 AM

    spirals are my thing... much easier with free motion. Stay at the same pace though, or you'll get ladders on the back if you speed through the curves. They do get easier as you practice. I like that you're taking breaks piecing fun blocks. They are dancing. LeeAnna

    ReplyDelete
  3. KateDecember 24, 2015 at 7:46 AM

    Hope the spirals get easier soon. It's not fun to be frustrated. Your dancing plus blocks are looking good. Have a very happy holiday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tish StempleDecember 28, 2015 at 8:05 AM

    I struggle with spirals too, you are not alone. I find they are much easier for me to quilt with my free motion foot than with my walking foot. Isn't it fun to reward yourself for good behavior? I do it too. If I complete a small goal a allow myself to work on another project that I'm excited about.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Judy@Quilt ParadigmDecember 28, 2015 at 8:21 AM

    I think your spirals are looking really good! I do agree with LeAnna and Tish, I find them much easier to do in free motion - even with extra marking, I think it takes less time and I'm more consistent.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)