Day 71 – Bamboo Forest
This design is also featured in the DVD Beginner Free Motion Quilting Fillers, as well as the ebook From Daisy to Paisley.
Anyone else read the comments in Hardwood Floors?
Well, a wonderful fellow blogger, Wendy, the self proclaimed Seam Ripper Extraordinaire, suggested I change the design ever so slightly to create Bamboo.
Thus was born Bamboo Forest! Thanks Wendy!!
I’ve always liked bamboo and my husband has been so tempted to plant it in our yard to help stave off the poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and various other nasty poison things growing in our woods.
The problem is bamboo really spreads unless you find the clumping kind which I can never find and wouldn’t trust anyway. I have knitted with bamboo yard and found it delightful.
Who knew that an overgrown grass could make such soft yarn?
Inspiration – I was really only going to do Hardwood Floors and leave the design at that, but then Wendy came along with the comment “that looks like bamboo to me” and of course, I had to give this variation a try!
Design Family – Edge to Edge. This design, just like real bamboo trees (stalks? reeds?). It runs from one edge of your space to the other so this will work great to cover open, uncomplicated areas of your quilt.
Difficulty Level – Beginner. This is a terrific design to start with because you don’t even need to stitch straight lines! Bamboo can be slightly curvy so it’s super easy.
Directional Texture – Two directions. There’s definitely a horizontal / vertical look to this design, no doubt about it!
Suggestions for Use – I would put this in a plain, indigo sashing around Japanese fabrics for a super cool Asian inspired quilt.
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
This one looks fun yet simple. Thanks for your blog.
Fabulous! I just discovered your blog but love what you are doing. Keep up the good work!
Simply stunning! I think this will be one I will use, maybe even by hand.
Judy B
Oh but this is so, so similar to something that I've been doodling and was going to mention to you – but what I'd done was two horizontal bars across instead of one – I'd also seen a photo on line of a clump of bamboo where they were a bit more irregular – even one crossing the rest – interesting
Love it! Keep them coming!
I've used bamboo batting in a quilt and it's super soft too. Great design!
Anna
Leah,
I can't begin to tell you how valuable these videos are to us! Thank you for your time. I also loved your online class. It was so wonderful I finished it in a few days. Anxious to get the next installment!
Regarding bamboo, I live in Florida and have bamboo in both side yards. The larger bamboo (about 4-6" across) is wonderful and makes a lovely noise when it's windy as it knocks against one another. Like wooden chimes. Grows quite well and like a forest, blocking views. We have the other kind that is nasty and spreads like crazy in the other side yard. I've heard if you plant them in a pot (sturdy) in the ground, that will prevent them from spreading. Good luck!
Melanie
Thank you for the mention, Leah. I feel honored. =-)
Now I guess I'll have to post pictures of my FMQ attempts just to prove that I'm working on this stuff! =;-)
I love this design. I used it in a quilt I recently finished. http://beambolong.blogspot.com/2011/01/quilts-hither-and-thither.html here's a blog post about it.
that design IS awesome and one i will use when i "become" a free motion quilter! in the meantime, "I has a bucket" cracked me up, too! (: