Day 326 – Hosta Leaves

Thank you all so much for your supportive comments to my “No!” post! It’s amazing how helpful writing it all out can turn things around. For many months I’ve felt bad for saying “No” to many business opportunities, worried that if I turn too many people down, they will all stop liking me!

But now I’m able to see that saying “No” to these things is essential. I want to be at home and teach online. Period. Running around the country (or world) will only take me away from where I want to be and what I want to be doing.

So speaking of teaching, let’s get back on track with a new design! Looking at our recent Pivoting designs, I can see things have gotten pretty complex. Let’s simplify things a bit with this simple combination of leaves and tear drop shapes that make a pretty Hosta Leaf:

Again, if this design looks familiar, it’s probably because it was originally published in the Quilting Arts In Stitches Online Magazine more than a year ago. With more than 300 designs, it can hard to keep track of them all, but I’m quite sure we haven’t repeated any so far.

Difficulty Level – Intermediate. This is a very simple combination of shapes that come together to make a beautiful design. Focus first on creating the tear drop shape and then echoing with the hosta leaf shape. If you find yourself struggling to stitch the leaf shape properly, try drawing the design several times to get the hang of it first.

Design Family – Pivoting. The mother of all pivoting designs is Paisley, a fun design stitched with simple tear drop shapes. Get the hang of Paisley first, then try your hand at this design. Chances are if you can quilt Paisley, Hosta Leaves will be very easy for you to stitch.

Directional Texture – All Directions. Experiment with making your starting tear drop shape very short and squat, and also very long and wiggly to see how this will change the overall texture of the design.

Suggestions for Use – There are so many flower and leaf themed quilts these days that would look beautiful when stitched with this design. Hosta Leaves can easily fit in any area of your quilt, so don’t hesitate to try it around appliques, in your sashing, or even the borders of your next quilt.