November FMQ Challenge

OK, so you may have noticed that it's not quite November anymore, and October kind of slipped past without a word, and there are reasons, but let's not get into all that.  I took the pledge, and so I will get caught up (Oct. and Dec. lessons) and finish the challenge entirely before the end of the month!

This last month SewCalGal brought us Sarah Vedeler with a really nice structured lesson on how to spiral in and get back out again.  I really appreciated her clear and organized instruction - starting with drawing the spirals in a row, in a grid.

And then marking the grid on a quilt sandwich and stitching/practicing.  At the top I did rows of the spirals in both directions, and then rows of the reversing spirals, and ended with a row in which the exit line is right on top of the spiral in (a new look)

And here's what it looks like after the washable pen is washed off (OK, it's upside down) (and the back of the sample is at the top of this post).

Top thread is Superior's Rainbows, a 40 wt. trilobal polyester (my first use of poly thread!) in color #801 "Jester", and the bobbin thread is Superior's Sew Fine, a 50/3 polyester, in color #450 "Spring Green".  Used a 90/14 topstitch needle on quilting cotton with 80/20 cotton/poly batting and had no tension adjustment issues at all.
 
I still need a lot more practice making smooth curves, and spacing lines evenly, but even all irregular as it is, the pattern has a certain spunk and movement that I find charming.

Everybody's a critic.