Free Motion Quilting Loaded Boxes #446

Let’s quilt a new free motion quilting design today called Loaded Boxes. I figure we learned how to quilt Unloaded Boxes awhile ago, which is a fun zigzaggy quilting design with open square shapes. Now let’s try filling those spaces to create Loaded Boxes, a beautiful combination of straight lines and spirals:

This quilting design does involve a lot of steps – stitch a ziggy line, form a square shape, fill the square with a circle and spiral. Travel stitch out and echo around the box and zigzag line mulitple times. Whew! It’s a lot to remember and may seem pretty complicated if you’re just getting started. Just remember there are plenty of super easy designs on the Free Motion Quilting Project you can play with as well.

I love mixing contrasting shapes together to create a unique quilting texture. Loaded Boxes is a great example of this – combining straight lines and box shapes with curving spirals.

Where will Loaded Boxes work best in your Quilts? I think this design looks best quilted on a smaller scale and stitched in art quilts and wall hangings. When you try to expand this design, it’s more challenging to keep the straight lines sharp and angles pointy.

I guess it might be easier to quilt bigger using ruler quilting for the straight lines. I’ll have to give it a try using my Slice Ruler and let you know if it helps!

Let’s Go Quilt,

Leah Day