Free Bird Quilting Designs

Free Bird Quilting Designs

Blossoming Lonestar

by

Blossoming Lonestar.

Seriously wish I could find the time to finish this one.

I am going to extend the blocks with Alison glass abacus fabric………hopefully soon! lol!

IMG_5160

Finally I have decided on a back ground for my lonestar.

Originally I was going to piece the background with a mix of Alison Glass abacus fabric but I have not got the time at the moment and I really want it finished and off my design wall, so I have decided to go with the fabric pictured, what do you think?

IMG_1568

I love it, now I just have to order it and wait impatiently for it to get delivered!!

Well it got delivered and I decided it wasn’t right after all!

So back to the drawing board or fabric cupboard in this case.

The perfect coloured fabric was there all the time, what do you think?

IMG_1752

IMG_1759

Midnight blue, which is pretty appropriate for a star!

Cant wait to quilt this beauty.

I have made a quick sketch of my quilting ideas and if all goes according to plan I will start quilting it this week!

IMG_1901

I have called this quilting design blossom quilting, what do you think?

In the next few pics I will give you a quick tutorial on how this quilting is done. The idea behind this and probably all of my designs is minimal marking and just try to quilt freely and not get to stressed about it being perfect.

The most important thing to remember is that flowers are not all the same and either are leaves so don’t worry if they do not come out exactly the same.

The other thing is this is not micro quilting, so make your flowers, leaves curles and pebbles big, you should be able to quilt large areas quickly.

I start off drawing a 2 inch circle onto the quilt where I want the first flower.

Then I mark out the eight stamens, this is the only marking I will do on the quilt and I mark with white chalk as it just brushes off the quilt.

IMG_2262

Keeping within the circle I quilt pebbles, all different sizes and then following around the edge of them I make the stamens. I tend to listen to the machine as my guide to get the correct length of each one.

IMG_2263

Now I Just quilt around each stamen twice.

IMG_2264

and then quilt double petals around the edge.

IMG_2265

I position the flowers first and then fill in the outside area with leaves, curlies, and pebbles.

IMG_2220

What do you think?

I love it, beautiful big bold flowers!

IMG_2219

In each section I quilt the flowers somewhere different so the overall design is more interesting.


 IMG_2228

 

IMG_2232

I decided to do single curves in the rectangles.

IMG_2235

The Alison Glass fabric looks spectacular against the midnight blue.


IMG_2229

And the centre!

IMG_2298

IMG_2257IMG_2286 (1)

IMG_2296

IMG_2316 IMG_2320

 

If you have any questions, write me a comment below and tag me when you blossom quilt @freebirdquiltingdesigns on IG and #blossomquilting so I can admire your work!

 

 

Comments

  2. Oh my gosh! This is gorgeously beautiful!!! I have a lone star quilt top I did a year ago. I have not finished it because I don’t know how to quilt it. I have been looking for quilting designs online and finally came upon yours with pictures. I cannot draw or doodle designs let alone free motion quilt. Now I can at least pick a pattern for all the blank space. I may try to duplicate your center somehow. What a wonderful surprise on the back. Thank you for posting this. Love it.

    • Hello Susan,

      so glad this quilt gave you some ideas.

      Good luck with yours, I am sure you will do a fabulous job with it.

      Best wishes
      Carolyn
      Free Bird Quilting Designs

  3. What beautiful flowers. About how large are the finished flower. You are awesome to share your process. The whole quilt is so bright and refreshing. I am going to try to doodle your instructions, but hard to tell from pics the actual size.
    Melissa

  4. Beautiful! Did you use the same color thread for the quilting on the star or change colors depending on the background? It blends beautifully, whatever you did! Choosing and or changing thread color for multi colored quilts is a struggle for me. Thanks for posting this.

    • Hello Susan,

      When I first started quilting I would match the tread and the fabric colour, now I chose threads that would blend with multiple colours so I didn’t have to change threads all of the time. It makes the quilting a lot quicker.
      Best wishes

      Carolyn

  6. I’m a fellow long-arm quilter and I have to tell you, I used this idea for quilting a lone star. Your quilt is so beautifully constructed, so the quilting looks so wonderful! My customer’s quilt was made many years ago, none of the points in the star match, and the squares and triangles have so much extra fabric that I couldn’t avoid having tucks in lots of places! I think the quilting on my customers quilt looks great, but the quilt is a mess! Haha! Just had to share.

    • Hello Cheryl,

      I quilted many client quilts like that, that were not quite square and had extra fabric, such hard work.
      Glad you quilted some magic on your clients and made it look fabulous, the lady was lucky she found you!
      Best wishes
      Carolyn

  7. This is one of the most stunning pieces of quilting I have ever seen. Your flowers are amazing!

    • Hello Ann,
      It depends, if the quilt is going to be a sample then I tend to use a wool/poly, it has a lot of loft and is quite light.
      If the quilt is for me and I am going to use it on my bed or couch, I use a cotton batting, I like the heaviness of it.
      Best wishes
      Carolyn