Another quilt that has been in progress for a long time is in my lap today. I finally decided on how to quilt it. Spiral quilting it will be.

And yes, you can see, I had a change of plan from what I drew, to where I decided to quilt. An artist’s prerogative?!! LOL

I did think about quilting it by machine but decided that that just wouldn’t be right for this one. I settled on big stitch quilting. Primarily because the majority of this quilt is 2″ squares, so lots of seams. Also, lots of batik, hand dyes and metallics, too, making traditional hand quilting painful.

To spiral quilt, this large quilt, I had to come up with a plan. I decided to quilt it with lines 3.5cm apart (looks like 4. on the ruler, but it is 3.5). I started out with a template, but quickly out grew it. I then taped my Fons and Porter chalk pencil, using packaging tape, to my 6″ ruler. I then lined the end of the ruler up with the previous line and start drawing in a circular form, copying the last line. I’m not looking for perfection in my echoing, organic lines are fine, I just feel better following a line, any line as opposed to just eye-balling it.

Have I talked before, about how much I love these pencils? They are not waxy, so they dust off, or even better wash out, beautifully. The four pack, I buy, has all the colors that work with ever project you might have. And they aren’t waxy, did I say that? A true bonus there. They sharpen in an electric pencil sharpener, fine, too. Not sure about a handheld sharpener, but I bet that will work well, too.

I once marked an entire queen sized quilt with a white quilting, marking pencil. Hand-quilted it, tossed it in the wash, feeling so proud. Pulled it out and to my horror the white waxy lines were there as plain as day! I ended up using a toothbrush on the entire quilt. That could be why I never got a good photo of that quilt!

Once the spirals got to the width of the quilt, I timed it and it takes about 37 minutes to do one line. I draw four lines at a time, enough to do in an evening, but not too many to where they brush off before I get them quilted.

I am using Finca Presencia Perle Cotton #16 in Dark Pewter. I have two spools that I opted not to use on another project and am hoping this will be enough for this one. Looks like I might make it, but you never know!

My stitches are about 1/8th of an inch long with the spacing being just shy of that.

So far, so good, it looks like about another 15 hours of quilting to go. Now to find something else to watch on Netflix…

Back at it!

Linking up with:
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Whimsy Wednesday
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