Day 49 – Mussel Shell

YAY! More variations for you today! What do you get when you elongate Paisley and concentrate the echos just on the curving tip? Mussel Shell!

free motion quilting design mussel shell

Yeah, I know if I asked all the Quiltzillas of the world they would never count this design because it’s too close to the original Paisley design.

But no one is asking the Quiltzillas, so I have nothing to worry about!

Inspiration – While mindlessly doodling at the kitchen table I was flipping through an issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine and saw a dish with mussels in it.

Upon looking closer, I saw the telltale ridges that look so much like Paisley, but at the same time different. It had to be stitched and here it is.

Difficulty LevelIntermediate. Like Pointy Paisley from yesterday, you can easily master Mussel shell with a bit of practice and elbow grease.

Design Family – Pivoting. This design is formed just like Paisley, so everywhere you would put that oldie goldie, you can put Mussel Shell.

Just be careful not to get the grease on your quilt! He He…cheap joke, but I couldn’t resist!

Directional Texture – All Directions. You can form the Mussels from any direction, but they look nicer flowing from one direction to another.

Suggestions for Use – Think how good this would look in your sashing! It’s a pretty big, meaty filler, so I wouldn’t try to squish it into small areas or everyone will confuse it for regular old Paisley.

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.

8 Responses

  1. That is a beautiful paisley design.

  2. shiny4444 says:

    Love this one Leah

  3. SewCalGal says:

    Absolutely beautiful. Love this design.

    Thanks for sharing.

    SewCalGal
    http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

  4. shiny4444 says:

    Ha ha Leah, not heard "Quiltzillas" before,love it, much better than "Quilt Police", will use the term from now on!!

  5. Anya says:

    Hopefully, Quiltzillas are an endangered species!

  6. Leah Day says:

    Ha! The term Quiltzilla was invented by the wonderous Mark Lipinski of Quilter's Home Magazine.

    As Mark has now left the magazine, it will definitely never be the same, but the Quiltzilla's will no doubt go on!

  7. kwilta says:

    I feel I,ve really graduated doing this design. Thanks Leah

  8. kwilta says:

    Mussel Shells, now I feel i,m really graduating with this one Leah.

    Thanks for everything

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *