Day 290 – Zigzag Fern

Yesterday I finally tackled my front garden and weeded the whole thing out in one evening. While I’m not the best gardener, I’ve learned my lesson not to let my garden get this out of whack before doing something about it.

This Zigzag Fern design reminds me of many of the weeds I pulled out. At least if you put this your quilt, it won’t continue to grow and take over!

I love designs that combine straight and curvy lines. I think it makes for an interesting contrast in textures that catches your eye.

I think it’s so noticeable because we have so few things that naturally curve and grow perfectly straight at the same time. Try looking around your garden this week and see if you can find natural objects that contain both straight lines and curves, then look for man made objects with this combination too. It’s a fun challenge to keep your eyes open!

This design is sponsored by my book From Daisy to Paisley. 

Difficulty LevelIntermediate. This design is a great way to practice stitching straight lines and sharp angles in free motion. If you’re struggling to stitch designs like Pointy Paisley and Circuit Board, this design would be a great way to practice!

Directional Texture – All Directions. This combination of textures really draws the eye. It will make for a gorgeous design to stitch all over your quilt, or just in the borders if you’re needing a fun frame for a pretty quilt.

Suggestions for Use – I used Fern & Stem over the border blocks of the Australian Shadows Quilt, but after looking at this design, I think Zigzag Fern would have looked even better! The funky zigzag line would look great combined with busy fabrics for a really neat effect. The only problem will be being able to see what you’re doing!

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.

2 Responses

  1. I love the shadows quilt. I want to get one of those done {maybe in my next life, LOL}. Great quilting design.
    ~ Kimberlee at The Spunky Diva 

  2. debbie says:

    I could see this design being used in a 5+ inch wide border, with the center stem being placed diagonally across the width of the border…especially on a jungle or garden themed quilt.

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