Day 90 – Sprouting Seeds

I must be on a combination design kick cause I’ve just made several designs combining two earlier designs.

This one is a combo of circles (technically single pebbles) and Tree Roots. Of course since roots were involved, I ended up naming it Sprouting Seeds:

free motion quilting design sprouting seeds

From all the comments from my post about fabric organization video, I know most of you ladies can’t wait to get your hands on my scrap stash.

free motion quilting | Leah DayI was going through it all yesterday and couldn’t believe just how much there was. 4 years quilting really does produce a ton of scraps!

I’ve been debating and decided to also include the yardage that I’m purging from my stash. I couldn’t even get it all into one photo!

Let me know what you think! I would never have thought of getting rid of all this stuff and I’m sure it will all be going to a good home.

I’ll be announcing the details of the give-a-way and the super sale on Wednesday, so make sure to stop by and check it out!

Let’s get back to learning how to quilt Sprouting Seeds:

Inspiration – Tree Roots has got to be in my top 10 favorite quilting designs invented during the project. I’m starting to use it just as much as stippling!

But I don’t want to over use it either, so I’ve started looking for ways to combine it with other designs for a new look.

I think this design has some nice potential. You could do spirals in the circles, fill them with stippling, or leave them open like they are in my photos. 

Difficulty LevelAdvanced. Tree roots are fairly easy. Quilting circles is fairly easy. Combine the two together and practice enough, and you’ll nail this design to the wall! 

Design Family – Stacking. Each of the sprouting seeds is formed, then you branch off with your tree root line to form your next seed.

It’s very free form and flowing and could likely be placed anywhere on a quilt. 

Directional Texture – No Direction. Your eyes aren’t really being pulled in any single direction, but the circles for the seeds are very noticeable. You could make them more like pebbling or fill them with spirals so they look a bit less like polka dots amid the tree roots.

Suggestions for Use – I personally keep seeing sprouting seeds being used in your sashing cornerstones. It will provide that nice little touch of texture in a place pretty much always ignored.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

11 Responses

  1. Fiesta says:

    Leah please include me in your giveaway. I am working on a hexagon charm quilt and those scraps would come in handy.

  2. love your free motion designs, and your recent discussions on how to "Quilt as Desired". I've recently taken inspiration from your holly leaves and berries and used it in finishing up a UFO.
    In terms of your stash, I'm a firm believer in sharing the wealth, so to speak, and think multiple lots would be nice!

  3. Melissa says:

    I love scraps- in fact, I prefer using them to yardage, because then I don't have that, "What if I destroy my pretty fabric by cutting it wrong?!?" anxiety. I think three sets would be fun- more winners!
    Thanks for all your fun helps!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Hi Leah
    I think it would be nice to share out your stash to several scrappy quilters! But let us all see the results of how they are used,

    Peter

  5. Anonymous says:

    Personally I would split it in three, perhaps split up in colour family, like all the reds and browns, all the blues and greens and all the yellow white and blacks. I have been following your blog for 2 months now, and it is fun to see what you come up with. I am also very much a beginning quilter and my stash is very large yet, so I would love to win some of your scraps.

  6. Bernadine says:

    This latest "sprouting seeds" looks like giant sunflowers to me from the quilt backshot. Pretty neat.

  7. Kathy says:

    I think the more the merrier – give your scraps to three people and they will be happy. I would love to have your scraps for the charity doll quilts I make.

    Kathy

  8. marjolijn says:

    Best to split it in three. You can make three people happy. So much better! And what a lovely idea.
    And thanks for all the wonderfull videos and how to's. I really love them and learn quit a lot.
    Marjolijn, from the Netherlands.

  9. FML Crochet says:

    You are always so generous with your talent and now a giveaway. 🙂 Very wonderful of you. Splitting the giveaway would spread the joy of your scraps.

  10. Wilma NC says:

    Split it into 3. spread the wealth, lol.

  11. bunbear says:

    I would like to see you split your stash into three prizes…more chances to win! Can't wait to see what the contest is on Wednesday!

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