Free Motion Quilting Grass Channel Tutorial

Ah! The sun is shining, the snow is nearly all melted, and I can finally see some patches of green grass that help me remember that winter does not actually last forever, even if it feels like it does.

So let’s celebrate those small green blades of grass and see how they work in a filler design:

Today is another busy day of writing lists, packing, checking the list, and packing some more. I swear the amount of stuff I drag with me to workshops grows with each class!

But there is light at the end of the tunnel and I’m hoping to finish packing so I can spend some time hand appliqueing Hot Cast.

When I’m not chilling on the couch with a needle in hand, I’ll be at the machine, quickly quilting the Australian Shadows Quilt. I decided to use a wider scale so this quilt will be soft and cozy rather than stiff, and this means the quilting is much faster to finish!

Inspiration – While working on Cave Points, and remembering Flowing Glass and Trailing Tears, I realized just how easy it is to come up with new Edge to Center Designs. Just play with the shapes and viola! you have a new design!

Another cool idea to try with this design is to change the direction of the curve on the opposite side. The points would still meet up in the middle, but the opposing curve would add quite a funky twist to this simple design.

Difficulty Level – Beginner. These simple curving shapes are really easy because once you get the first shape stitched, all the rest are simply echoed from that original curve. If you struggle to get the opposite side curving just the same way, try marking just the starting curve and it may work a bit easier.
Design Family – Edge to Edge. This design is stitched from the edges of your quilting space into the center, making this a great design type for narrow, open areas like sashing or borders. 

Directional Texture – 2 Directions. The nice thing about Grass Channel is the texture created when the two sets of curves meet up in the center. It gives your eyes a place to go draws attention to any areas of a quilt you stitch them into.

Suggestions for Use – This design really is the perfect sashing filler. Grass Channel can easily be stitched on a large scale, so it will fill a quilt quickly.

Sashing can be deceptively time consuming to quilt so it’s nice to have a design that you know will go into a space without a lot of fuss and produce a really nice effect.

Quilting Design #15 – Flowing Glass

Machine Quilting Design #30 – Trailing Tears