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Wallflowers, vintage tiles or star bursts? What does this quilting design look like to you?

The freemotion design Wallflower is a simple grid based quilting design that goes well with themes like flowers, tiling, kitchen, bathroom, vintage, retro, stars and the universe. Depending on your grid size, you may apply it as an edge to edge or as a background filler.

I lost the video footage of me quilting out this design and I had to redo it. You may spot the difference in fabric and thread colors in the photos. Redoing this design wasn’t a problem at all ...

If you keep scrolling down you will find ssssomething extra!

The border design Scroll is a grid based quilting design that works well in more narrow borders. A series of curls create the letter S that is repeated over and over. This freemotion design goes well with themes like the alphabet, the letter S, writing, calligraphy, books, fantasy, curls and Santa Claus. 

This design is a border design, but you could repeat it as an edge to edge for a bag or table runner. Decide if your second pass will flow in the same direction or in the opposite direction ...

Does this design look like tin ceiling tiles to you or maybe vintage kitchen tiles?

The freemotion design Orange Peel Greek is a grid design based on the classic Orange Peel. A series of curls are added as a decorative element to fill parts the negative space within the pattern.

This design looks great on projects like bags and table runners. It goes well with themes like tin tiles for ceilings, Greece, classical art, citrus fruit like oranges, flowers and butterflies.

The name Orange Peel Greek specifically refers to the curls, which reminded me of the tops of columns from ...

Last week’s design was a floral one, a bit dense, and pretty intricate. Maybe you prefer a more simple grid design, one that works in narrow borders or sashings or that could even transition into an edge to edge.

Meet Trim!

The sample is stitched out on a 2 inch high strip of fabric and it requires a square grid. You may think that you can go grid-less for this design, but I strongly advise you to use at least reference points.

Your quilting will look its best when the lines are parallel and the shapes are neatly ordered ...

Add a field of flowers to your quilt!

Joyful, elegant and full of details, these off set flowers are connected by a loopy line making them more whimsical.

The freemotion design Garland is based on a square grid, with the flowers placed offset from the previous rows. The flowers are connected by a ‘horizontal’ continuous line, making them look like an actual garland. This FMQ pattern would work great on quilts with themes like nature, flowers, plants, weddings, elegance.

The black sample below is from 2017 when I stitched out the design in a 1 inch grid.

The design is ...

Marking a grid on your fabric gives you so many options for cool freemotion designs. A grid gives you just the right amount of guidance while keeping the hand-guided look.

In many of my designs I use a 1 inch grid, just because my samples aren’t normally big. In a lot of cases you can enlarge the grid to whatever size that works for you. There are only two limitations I can think off. Firstly, some sewing machines will block your view of the fabric behind the needle. You can only enlarge the design as far as you can ...

The Cross my Heart design is a sister pattern to the Hearts Wreath design that I shared two months ago. Both these freemotion wreaths are filled with hearts, but the construction of the hearts is pretty different. The hearts in Cross my Heart are based on big loops that cross over at the intersections of the circular grid. In this design there are 4 big hearts and 4 small hearts.

The Hearts Wreath is more suitable for bigger circles, while the Cross my Heart design fits within a smaller circle, no bigger than 8 inches.

The red fabric is a ...

Walk the blocks, discover the lovely corners of your streets and have a great little hike.

The freemotion design Paths is a simple horizontal meander that looks great on quilted items like zipper pouches, bags and placemats. The design is not too complex, believe me! There is a lot of randomness, that you can use to your advantage. Plus some horizontal guidelines will help you keep it all straight.

The design fits themes like hiking, traveling, geocaching, puzzles, a greek meander and geometry. This angular FMQ design can be executed freehand or with a ruler if you prefer more straight ...

You know how much I like using slightly different thread colors in my quilts, but for this FMQ design I absolutely recommend using a thread that blends with the fabric as much as possible. It is all about the texture!

The design Knitwear doesn’t really mimic any type of knitwear of knitting specifically, but it borrows the rhythmic sequence of arches. If you wanted the quilting to resemble knitting, the arches / ogee shapes would need to line up, instead of jumping up and down.

This design will look great on quilts with themes like winter, autumn, ‘sweater weather’, snow ...

Do you have enough options for freemotion designs with hearts? Or would you like to see one more?

The grid design Hearts Lattice resembles a balcony railing.  Haven’t we all looked at the various designs of the metal railings and tried to figure out how to use the designs on a quilt?

This pattern is based on curls (each other’s mirror images) that create heart shapes when placed next to each other. This freemotion pattern will look great on quilts with themes like love, Valentine’s Day, friendship, sweethearts, wedding, engagement and off course Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare ...

Happy Monday to you all! I am still clearing out of the Christmas decor, there are some lights that I have take down, and a few candles to put back into storage. But I am keeping the red items out for Valentine’s Day. They are pulling double duty. This week’s freemotion design is also this versatile. Use the design for Valentine’s Day or Christmas.

The hearts wreath design is based on the classic Ribbon Candy design where the s-curves are turned into hearts. This freemotion pattern will look great on quilts with themes like Valentine’s Day ...

Feeling connected to you is so important to me! 

I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today without you. Your inspiring quilts, your thoughtfulness in sharing your world and your support in the comments have a huge impart in my corner of the internet. Let’s make this chain of friendships even stronger in 2025! 

The freemotion design Chain Link works well for domestic machine quilters and longarmers. This grid design resembles a bicycle chain and chain links. The pattern is based on a simple loop that is repeated twice per row. This freemotion pattern will look great on ...

Get your marking pen out, I have a nice grid pattern for you! The shapes that make up this design are pretty easy, but the stitch path can become confusing. Please mark the stitch path too! It takes less time to mark than to undo your work! So, take your time, and go slow!

I have selected this Busy Bee design on purpose for this week. I know that for many of us Monday is ‘ back-to-work-day’ and ‘busy-busy-busy-today’ and it may feel like you never even had those vacation days off. Maybe try this fun design to counterbalance that? You ...

Before we delve into this weeks design, I wanted to draw your attention to a website called Create Whimsy. This site is a treasure trove of interesting quilty resources and a fabulous series of interviews. These interviews are with quilt designers, textile artists, pattern surface designers and various other creative professionals. This week I was asked to participate in this series of spotlight interviews. You can find my interview on the site. Do you have any additional questions you would like me to answer? Would love to more for you.

It is time for a cosy and nostalgic design this ...

Are you going to be spending more time on our sewing machines now that the weather is getting colder? I know I am! That means we have some time for a bit more in-depth learning with this week’s pattern. The pattern Twist will probably be familiar as it has been around for a while. It is basically an orange peel variation, but instead of an arch shape we are using a shape that resembles a gentle wave or a hill / slope.

The asymmetry in that shape adds so much movement in your quilt! I know that the design is ...

Get out your bright threads, especially the neon colors. I suspect you don’t use those very often. Here is your chance! This grid design Diamante is a fabulous one tot stitch out with a thread that really shows up on your fabric. Its whole purpose is to create a dazzling design.

Pattern Tutorial

The pattern is based on a diamond or triangular grid . You can use square grid instead. In general, they give the same result. The diamond grid is visually easier because you can’t get confused by the lines on your fabric.

The design is stitched out ...

The clematis plants in my garden are blooming their socks off! Big and bold blooms in lavender and magenta and tender bell-like shapes in yellow which also have fabulous seed heads. The white variety already started flowering in March and those flowers have long gone.

The clematis flowers always remind me of a grid quilting design that I shared in a blogpost from 2017. This quilting design Clem is based on the zentagle drawing tutorial from 2016 by the designer Erika Kehlet. You can find pictures of her fabulous work on her Instagram account and all over Pinterest.

Zentangle designs ...

Did you see the Northern Lights two weeks ago?

I have to report there was nothing to see where I live, because dawn came too early for us. There was just too much light in the sky to be able to see the pretty colors. I live in a pretty densely populated area anyway, so even looking at the regular night’s sky to see the stars is a bit of a challenge. I can see some constellations with very bright stars, but that is about it.

I am making up for missing out on all the celestial events of ...

Last Friday was World Water Day and this next Friday is Mermaid Day, so this week’s free motion design just fits in!

The Mermaid’s Tail design is based on the clamshell grid. This design can be quilted pretty densely, but stitch it out as big as you want. You could even use a ruler to help you create the semicircular arcs. The clamshell gird is used upside down, making it look like scales. Scales on a mermaid’s tail!

Fill the clamshells with teardrops that fan out from the centre. Use as many teardrops as you like.

There ...