Day 194 – Desert Sand
This design is also featured in the DVD Beginner Free Motion Quilting Fillers, as well as the ebook From Daisy to Paisley.
Rock out! It’s Totally Filler Tuesday Dude and we’ve got a totally awesome design to learn!
Okay, I’ll stop being weird 😉
I’ve been playing with foundational designs again and I must say, this design is probably going to rank in my top 10 favorites:
I love this design so much, I’ve included it in the new Beginner Free Motion Quilting Fillers DVD! It’s very simple to stitch but has such an awesome texture it really had to be included.
I finished filming the 30 designs for the DVD this weekend and today I’m busy editing and dubbing each video. It’s going really well, but is a lot more time consuming than editing the You Tube videos because these videos are longer and more detailed.
As with all things, I’m finding that if I break the job up into small chunks it’s much easier to handle. I’ve recorded 5 videos so far so now it’s time for a break!
Inspiration – 3 years ago I was really into landscape quilts, but after getting into show quilting and making The Duchess I haven’t made one in a really long time.
One of the biggest reasons why I moved away from landscapes is a total lack of understanding or inspiration for quilting them. Now with Desert Sand, we have the perfect filler for any landscape!
Difficulty Level – Beginner. This is one of those wonderful situations where a very easy design only LOOKS complex. Desert Sand is also a great way to practice echo stitching so definitely give it a try.
Design Family – Foundational. This design starts with a foundation of flowing, organic lines. You can fit this into almost any area of your quilts so long as you can stitch a foundation into the area first.
Directional Texture – All directions. Depending on how you stitch your flowing foundational line your texture will be either 2 directions or all directions.
Suggestions for Use – Landscape anyone? I’m headed into the studio to see what I can put together and quilt with this filler!
Feel free to use this free motion filler designs in your quilts,Click here to support the project by visiting our online quilt shop.
Ooooooooh! I love this one and it reminded me of a question I meant to ask you before. I notice that you change the direction you are stitching by spinning the fabric around.
I know that it is so that you can see better and like all of you us I am assuming you stitch better in one direction than another… all of that I completely understand and on my small little projects like place mats etc… I do the very same thing.. what I have always wondered is this…. How do you do the same thing on a BIG quilt? DO you try to complete the fill with our spinning the quilt around or re-adjust… if its re-adjust are their any good tips on how to do this smoothly and still maintaining a feeling like you are getting it quilted and not always wrestling with the blanket monster??
Thanks sew much 🙂
Leah,
How about a section on your blog of free motion fiilers by design type – i.e. center, foundational, echoing, independent etc?
Beautiful design! Simple and elegant.Thank you for sharing!
I love this one!! And I have the perfect spot for it in the quilt I'm working on today, yippee!
Thanks Andi and Flisa! It's a super easy stitch so definitely try it out.
Sewmuch2do (tell me about it!) – I have the designs sorted by difficulty level, but so far not by design type.
You could say that I was a bit naive about the scale of this project when I started it. Just so everyone knows – 365 of anything is HUGE!
So yes, I do plan to improve the search-ability of the designs, but unfortunately it's not going to be until the end of the project. It's just too much on top of everything else.
Twinmommy – I know what you mean. On big quilts I quilt best from left to right or from the top down. My machine doesn't like stitching backwards or to the right, so I avoid those directions when possible.
But when quilting a big quilt, you don't always have to turn your quilt all the way around, you can just angle it slightly and still see your lines easily.
I readjust a big quilt constantly, about every 4 inches or so, but usually it's just squishing the bulk around so it's less in my way and making sure the angle is good to see. If you can't see what you're doing, it's kinda hard to quilt!
I hope that makes sense everyone!
Cheers,
Leah
Thanks Leah. I have been reading your blog almost everyday since last Fall and have been getting so much inspiration. I have been watching your quilt world grow and know you have accomplished much and have many plans and ideas to come. I look forward to it!
I really like this design. There is no doubt you will come up with all 365 designs–you've made it this far 🙂 We're here to cheer you on!
I love this design too- and like you, my machine doesn't like quilting in the same directions as yours too…I have always wondered why?
Marsha
I'm definately going to try this one- I have a jungle quilt waiting on the right texture of quilt design, and I think this migt be just right for the borders…believe it or not!
Very nice! I have a large Yellow Brick Road quilt that I've been using your designs one — every single patch has a different one. I'm out to the borders now, and this one (or the variation you mentioned) might be the perfect treatment for the larger border. This quilt will be an encyclopedia of filler designs in my own "handwriting" when it's done, and I have had a BALL doing it.
Elaine that sounds awesome we wanna see photos!!!!