Quilting Spirals

The Brown/Moon blocks are being quilted in spirals. The centers of the first two were a little bit wobbly and I wondered what I could do to improve. Then I remembered that Donna Olson, who says she has trouble free hand quilting, showed us at the UT retreat how she draws designs on “Press n’ Seal, a GLAD product, presses it onto the quilt top, sews over the design, and peels the “paper” away. Decided to try it.

First draw the center of a spiral on a piece of paper. Doesn’t have to be much.

 

2. Raid the kitchen for the box of Press’n Seal

 

3. After you’ve traced the spiral onto the Press’n Seal, place it onto the quilt top

 

4. Needle and foot down at exact point of spiral center. Set stitch length to 1.5 (I am sewing on a Pfaff) It’s easier to make this tight turn with very short stitches.. Move the needle to the far right if you are sewing around the spiral clock-wise and making the lines 1/2 inch apart. With the needle on the far right I can use the edge of the foot as a 1/2″ guide.

 

5. As the circumference begins to enlarge, gradually increase your stitch length to what you plan to use. I gradually increase the length to three (3).

Once I stitch just the part that is drawn, I stop and tear off the Press’n Seal and continue the spiral using the edge of the foot as a guide.

Quilting a spiral free hand is a tutorial on The Quilting Edge. Marianne has a lot of tutorials, besides her beautiful quilts, on her blog. I urge you to check it out.

Blocks 8 & 9 and One To Grow On

The original concept of this project only needs nine blocks, but when someone asked if I was going to finish each block individually I thought, “Hummm.” So I’ve made 10 blocks and I’ll experiment with one and make a decision.

Brown Blocks 4 and 5

The weather has kept me in the house for the whole week. Although being house bound makes me grumpy : ) I’ve accomplisted a fair amount of work. This week there are two brown blocks. For work that appears so simple, I seem to spend an incredible amount of time mulling and rearranging pieces. Block Five was sewn together, ripped apart, and re-sewn into another arrangement. I like how the “shiny” shows in Block Four. My goal is “Elegant Simplicity.” The fabrics are mostly silks and polyesters.

Brown Block 4

Brown Block 5

Brown Block #3

Two days behind but I will catch up. It’s snowing outside and I can’t go anywhere. The skinny strip is twisted and sewn down flat.  I love the frayed, feathery edges of the larger strip.

Hey Nancy, will a little red purple do?

Brown Square #2

I have some of the mundane stuff out of the way. Now I’m going to try to make at least one brown square a week. Maybe two.

Brown Sunday (although it’s snowing outside)

After a week of cleaning and sorting in my studio, I’ve thrown away several large garbage bags of stuff and feel ever so much better. Going through all that led to surprises and new discoveries. Here’s one:

It’s a mono print on silk that I did in a workshop with Jason Pollen years ago. Now I think I may try to work it, whole or cut up, into a new QAYG quilt that’s been perking in my brain for the past month. Here’s the beginning of a possible block:

Once again I repeat, “I don’t like brown.” What’s this working with a color you don’t like? I did a quilt in browns in 1995 and it was a real winner in AQS, FL Craftsmen, S.E. American Crafts.

ROAD TO THE SUN