November 03, 2014

FMQ Weekly: Wayward quilting design



This is an easygoing free-motion design I want to show you today. This one is good for a quick finish. Not that you need those. Not that you're ever finishing your binding the morning that you have to give away your quilt. No, that never happens.

So this is what I call a follow-along design, meaning you give yourself a guiding line and then you follow along that line with the next step.


a. To start you give yourself a wavy guiding line. 
b. Then you come down one side of your guiding line, making a loop in every indentation in the line. 
c. Now go along the other side of the guiding line, doing the same thing. 
d. Move over and start a new wavy line. leaving enough room between them for adding the loopy lines. 


You can see how this gives you a not-completely-plain design but it doesn't ask much more of you than a simple wavy line would.  I like a design that can handle natural variability and so I tried practice stitching this one with more and less stretched out wavy lines, as well as varied sizes of circles. It worked well with all of those variables in play, so I think it qualifies as a beginner-friendly design. 

Here's a no-narration video, because it's so fun for me to show you how I do it!



I have been trying to show you my new designs on patchwork so you can see how they might play on a quilt. This is a very busy quilt block but hopefully you can still see how pillowy and lighthearted this design comes across.


And don't miss it: today is the last day to sign up for the giveaway for my soon-to-be-announced Craftsy class.  The giveaway has ended. If you'd like to check out the class, click the image below:


Happy stitching!


26 comments:

Unknown said...

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! You always inspire me!

Kathy S. said...

I LOVE this design! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Raewyn said...

Very cute design!

Sarah Craig said...

Oh, that's a great design! I can't wait to give it a try - maybe on the girls' quilts for Christmas!

Ruth said...

Another good one! I'm glad you showed how it would look on a block. I need to quilt a rail fence quilt and wondered how it would work on blocks, so maybe I'll try it.

felicity said...

This gets a big ol' YES from me. I do believe I will employ it on one of the many quilt tops/sandwiches currently awaiting my attention.

Arlene Delloro said...

I like this one a lot and am going to try it on the baby quilt I'm finishing up. Thanks.

Jackie said...

This is a great design and one I definitely want to try on a border I have left on a quilt that's just waiting for the border design. Thanks

Gail Lizette said...

Wow! I love this pattern!! Can't wait to try it... thanks for sharing

MareMare said...

So awesome Christina! Thanks for sharing these, I'm enjoying them so much and want to try some free motion again!

Sewgirl said...

Great design. I love open designs like this that are quick and don't make the quilt so heavy with so much thread build up. Thanks for sharing !

What Comes Next? said...

oh I like this quick, easy and great texture!

Lesley Gilbert said...

Thanks for this demo - you make it look so easy :)

Elsa said...

You make it look so easy! I know you've practiced a lot ~ something I don't seem to have much patience for.

Skootchover said...

Great motif. Thank you for sharing. I know just the project this belongs on.

Angie in SoCal said...

This is a great and easy motif. Thank you, Christina. I'm going to try it on the border of a charity baby quilt top I have finished.

Zenia Rene said...

Oh man! I really have to try a few of your fmq patterns soon! I love them all! When you quilt your quilts, do you pin or spray baste?

Karee said...

great minds, I guess! here is my May 2014 Will the Real Noah please Stand Up? quilt and its FMQing!
http://fabricfulfillingitsdestiny.blogspot.com/2014/05/will-real-noah-please-stand-up.html

Kathleen said...

I can see a wavy column of this design looking nice in a quilt border. Thanks for the video.

Helen in the UK said...

Looks like this will be an easy one with a great texture. Thanks for sharing :)

Mrs. Potter said...

Your cover quilt is absolutely fun! And, your blog looks like a great place for me to learn some machine quilting techniques! Thanks!

✾Jamie Lee Cooley✾ said...

This design is awesome! I really appreciate the video. All your circles look so perfectly round and evenly sized. Wish I could be so accurate!

✾Jamie Lee Cooley✾ said...

Okay, here's how my quilting turned out! Nowhere near as awesome as yours, but I loved doing it!
http://www.thebusybeequiltshop.blogspot.com/2014/11/blessed.html

KaHolly said...

I love this design, but I'm having such a difficult time making nice circles.

Betsey Kuzia said...

Love them, found a used Juki 2010 and it is great for few!!! Thanks for sharing your skills with us!

Sara said...

how would you go about doing this around a corner?

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