ruby2shoes

I want to quilt a large spiral in each of the motifs with their outer most spirals crossing over each other on this I am comfortable doing spiral quilting from the centre outwards on large quilts, covering the whole quilt....round and round and round and round .......... But I am wondering how I will be able to handle the bulk of the quilt when I am turning the quilt for the "not in the centre" motif spirals. It would seem that I am going to have a huge amount of quilt to try to turn through my harp. I have a Juki TL2010Q. Am I being over ambitious here? Is there a little trick that could help me or should I just do the one giant spiral across the whole quilt?

JustAbitCrazy

I have never done it, but I have read about quilters only putting a third of the batting in, down the center, quilting that but leaving an inch free from quilting along each side of the batting so they can add the other one-third strips of batting one at a time (by zigzag stitching them together). Not having all the batting in there the whole time cuts down on the bulk. Hope I explained that well enough.

ruby2shoes

Oh dear, I'm already basted, started quilting and my central spiral almost complete so I don't think I can manage that but what a nifty idea eh? Thanks JustAbitCrazy.

dunster

You could try free motion on the spirals, and then you wouldn't be turning the quilt around and around.

Watson

I was going to suggestion free motion. That way you can go anywhere you want to. You'd just have to mark it out.

Watson

Irishrose2

Definitely free motion. Spirals are surprisingly easy with the large plastic foot I use.

ruby2shoes

Thanks everyone. I was hoping to avoid fmq as whilst I am happy to do meandering on other projects.....actually following a marked line whether it is straight or curved is just beyond me! My resulting spirals would be hideously out of shape. I am monocular and have great difficulty with visual perspective and hand/eye coordination. Maybe I will just stick with doing the one massive spiral afterall; it seems the most doable for me I guess...sigh...thanks anyway.

Tartan

I would FMQ with my dish foot (it is clear saucer shaped foot) on my machine. I could use the edge of the dish for spacing the rounds out from the center if I was going to do concentric circle quilting.

yolajean

I haven't used the "ruler" method as of yet but it may be just the thing to help you with your eye issue. Try it on a practice piece before you give up. I think your idea is great! Good luck and let us see your finished project.

meyert

I have no idea, I just wanted to say that I love your quilt