Jelly Swirl

I like to make gifts and making a jelly roll race quilt is super easy, fun, and makes a perfect lap size quilt. And getting a jelly roll for less than $30 from MSQC helps a lot. But I didn’t like just stitching in the ditch, so I ran across a tutorial by Sugaridoo that quilted a little swirl in a wall hanging, and I thought, why not quilt a huge swirl on a jelly roll race quilt? I like the juxtaposition of the swirl on the stripes of the fabric. So I find the center of the quilt sandwich, and start the swirl there, working my way out. I don’t even try to be exact, just keep the edge of the walking foot about a quarter inch away from the previous line of stitching. Took begin with, you have to raise the presser foot and turn the fabric quite often to make the turns, but as the swirl gets larger, it gets smoother. Once you get to the edge, just finish the swirl effect to complete the corners. I’ve made several versions of this quilt already using different collections and it always looks great.