Free Motion QAL - Spirals and a linky party!

Welcome to the third video FMQ tutorial in the QAL! Today I'll be showing you how I quilt spirals. This was a really tricky one to film. I think it's because I'm quilting on such a light yellow fabric, and the light was bouncing off it causing glare, which meant it was really difficult to see what I was doing. It still isn't brilliant I'm afraid - there are still a few parts where it's a bit difficult to see what I'm doing, but hopefully overall it gives you an idea of how I approach quilting spirals. You can find the video here.

I also wanted to show you how much my spirals have changed over the time I've been FMQing. I think my first attempt was on my Groove quilt, back in October 2012. This was the first quilt I tried custom quilting, rather than a simple all-over design, and it was a brilliant learning experience. I still love this quilt, but my spirals (more than the other designs I think) have evolved a lot since this one :o)

9 months (and a fair bit of practice) later, they were more like this. The main change is that I started making them wider spaced and the lines are more evenly spaced, which I prefer (and which is also totally personal.) You might find you prefer completely different looking spirals - where the concentric circles are different widths apart, or the spirals are slightly elongated for example - and these both give beautiful texture as well, so it's just a matter of taste I think.

Another six month jump (this is the end of last year), and I think I was starting to get really comfortable quilting spirals. It does take a while to build up the muscle memory - but once you have it, it takes far less concentration to quilt and make it look like you want it to.

Finally, this is one of my most recent (secret) projects. I'm really proud of the quilting on this quilt, and I can't wait to show you the whole thing :o)

So you can see, practice makes a huge impact on your quilting. I do quilt a reasonable amount (I would say at least one quilt a month at a rough guess) - but even so, I'm quite surprised at how much my quilting has actually changed over the last couple of years. So even if you're not happy with your first few attempts, it's worth persevering, because it does become easier with practice.

If you do have a chance to watch the video, I'd love to hear your thoughts on a few things. Something I'm trying to do in these videos is explain how I plan where I'm going and how I get myself out of corners - is that something that's helpful in a video tutorial? Or should I just quilt and not talk so much? I'm also wondering if the slightly higher angle is better on this one compared to the first two. I really want to keep doing these videos, but I'd like to make them as helpful as possible ;o)

I have forgotten to add a linky party to almost all my posts sorry - but I did remember today, so if you'd like to link up your progress from the QAL, or if you've quilted anything using my tutorials please link up below, and try to visit a couple of the other blogs :o)



xx Jess

Free Motion QAL - The first video tutorial!

Welcome to the first video tutorial in the Free Motion QAL! For today's tutorial I decided to show you how I quilt a simple echo design. This is the first free motion quilting design I tried after I'd done stippling for a while, and it was a good introduction into quilting beyond stippling - so I thought it would be perfect for this QAL.

This is the first quilt I quilted using echo shells - using Leah Day's tutorial. You can see my version of echo shells is a bit different from Leah's - and you'll probably find your version turns out a bit differently too.

You can find my Youtube video tutorial here.

In the video I mention that there are other ways you can quilt echo designs. A few examples are a paisley - for example the quilting design in the black area of my groove quilt:

Or a leaf-shape, like I did on this quilt Susan donated for the bush fire appeal last year. 

The possibilities are pretty endless when it comes to echo type designs - and it is a really fun way to fill a space on a quilt.

As a complete novice YouTuber I would really appreciate any and all feedback on this video. I'd love some feedback on whether the angle is helpful, if my commentary is easy to hear - all that sort of thing. Constructive criticism is absolutely invited - but please try to keep it friendly. I am just using my little point and click camera to film this, so the quality probably isn't fantastic ;o)

I will be back in two weeks (and every two weeks after that) with the next video tutorial - so if you're a bit behind you will have plenty of time to catch up :o)

xx Jess