Quilting Tutorials — Free Motion Quilting

Each month, we are sharing multiple ways to quilt our Online Quilting Bee Skill Builder Blocks. When I’m creating a quilting plan, I always start with a picture and doodle with a pencil. This allows me to try lots of different ideas without much time commitment. Doodling is also one of the best ways to practice free motion quilting. It helps with muscle memory and finding a quilting path.   Quilting Plan 1 This first quilting plan creates a continuous ring around the center shape. I started with straight lines echoing the octagon around the center square. Next, I put...

I love star blocks. There are so many different varieties and you can use them in lots of different projects. They work great for babies and adults alike! Along with the versatility of star blocks, there are lots of different ways you can quilt them! I’m going to share 4 different quilting motifs you can use to finish your star quilts.   Quilting Motif 1 For this motif, start in the middle, swirl at the widest point in the block and then curve back into the outside point. I chose to swirl them all in the same direction to create...

While I do a lot of custom quilting, every once in a while a quilt just needs some good all over texture. This Diamond Ribbon Candy quilting motif is a great way to do that. It’s an easy motif that is perfect for beginners and can easily be done on a domestic or longarm.   Marking the Quilting Motif The first step in quilting this motif is to mark the diamond grid. If you have blocks that will work, it’s the easiest way to do it. The thing to keep in mind, is you want it wider than tall. For...

We are back for more quilting ideas! You may be wondering if I’m running out of different ways to quilt blocks, but I can assure you, that will never happen. You may have started to notice that for the most part, I use a core base of quilting ideas for most of my designs, but there are so many different ways to combine them and create an endless list of ideas. I’m hoping this is encouraging to you, especially if you are new to free motion quilting. You don’t have to master everything to be good at it, just master...

How to Quilt Orange Peel Blocks We are so excited to be able to share quilting ideas for each of the skill builder blocks all year long. One of the most common questions I get asked is “how should I quilt this?” My hope, is that by the end of the year, you’ll have a bunch of ideas and different ways to look at and approach an array of different quilts blocks that you can mix and match and use on different projects. This week, we are looking at orange peels. Whether appliqued or pieced, you can approach the quilting...