Free Motion Quilting Filler #31 – Cartoon Tree

Let’s learn how to free motion quilt Cartoon Tree! Today’s filler was inspired by the very well known Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I was thinking of the cartoon trees that are often used in books like this and extremely easy to doodle. As we’ve all learned, what’s easy to doodle is very easy to quilt!

Drawings and illustrations from books like Dr. Seuss and Roald Dalh are proving to be very inspiring! Of course, this Cartoon Tree design would look very different if I made it more cartoony looking with more pronounced U-turn branches. Play with it and see what you come up with!

Learn more about quilting Cartoon Tree:

Inspiration – I believe this doodle is second in popularity only to the Cat Hairball doodle. It might look really complicated in the picture, but it actually quilts up very easily.

Difficulty Level – Beginner. When you start free motion quilting Cartoon Tree, the trickiest part is the interlocking the branches. Just try to wiggle them together, but don’t sweat it if you get some open patches. They add to the texture as well!

Design Family – Edge to Edge.

Directional Texture – All directions. Even though this design is stitched from edge to edge like most 2 directional fills, because the tree branches are so interwoven it really gives the impression of much more movement.Of course, it’s going to be easier to apply when placed horizontally or vertically on your quilt, but just try it and see what you get.

Here’s another example of Cartoon Tree used in my Art Quilt Challenge piece:

Suggestions for Use – This would be a great design to use over large, open areas of your quilt. You could easily expand this to have 1/2″ or more space between the lines to cover the whole surface of a quilt quickly and with very little fuss.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day

Art Quilt Challenge Project – Quilted with 17 Filler Designs!