Day 207 – Snake Paisley

It’s Totally Filler Tuesday and I’m finally getting around to sharing this awesome design. It’s Snake Paisley!

Yesterday I managed to get the entire banner created and mostly quilt-liqued!

That is what I call it when I don’t applique the fabric shapes individually, but instead stitch them down at the same time I’m quilting all the layers together. It’s a bit of a cheat, but it saves time, which is what I definitely need at the moment!

All that’s left is to quilt-lique down the rest of the letters (which are all a pain) and maybe do a bit of filler work in the bottom of the sun. The rest of the quilting I have planned can wait until after the show.

Overall, I’m really pleased with this quilt and personally I can’t see any difference from the sun rays I fused compared to the ones I turned the edges under in a more traditional fashion.

And really, when I’m just going to stitch over the edges with an invisible thread, what does it really matter?

All I can say is you may start seeing a lot more fusing in my future quilts!

Now enough about this speedy banner project – let’s learn how to quilt Snake Paisley!

Inspiration – It’s no secret that I absolutely adore McTavishing – a free motion filler design created by Karen McTavish.

But I’m also crazy for Paisley designs! I wanted to find a way to combine the beautiful movement from McTavishing with the ease of stitching that is Paisley and ended up with Snake Paisley.

This design has already been used in two quilts: Shadow Self over the body section and My Cup Runneth Over in the sky section. It has definitely been added to my list of absolute favorite designs so give it a try and see if you like it as much as I do!

Difficulty Level – Intermediate. This design is easier than it looks though not a piece of cake: simply wiggle out a gently curving “S” shape, return to your starting point and pivot with 2-4 echoes.

Design Family – Pivoting. Snake Paisley will work in almost every area of your quilt. Just play with the different textures you can create with the wiggly “S” shapes. Hint: it actually looks better with a gentle curve than a crazy wiggle!

Directional Texture – All Directions. I love the movement you can get with both Snake Paisley and McTavishing. The texture they create really makes you want to reach out and touch the quilt.

Suggestions for Use – This texture could easily be used to fill in the sky, water, or stormy clouds. It can also work in more traditional quilts to add texture and movement to a blocky design. No matter where you put it, Snake Paisley always looks great!

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day