Although it’s really March 26th as I write this post, it sure feels more like April Fool’s Day here in NW PA! Mother Nature is laughing loudly at us because this morning we woke up to a layer of snow on the ground. Of course, it’s already beginning to melt away as the temperature increases a bit, but it was certainly a deja vu moment. Just another crazy weather day….
So, I definitely think it’s a fitting day to do a new tutorial for you featuring a beautiful blue and lavender batik collection.
VRD Brickwork Quilt Tutorial
Brickwork is a super fun fast fat quarter quilt designed by our VRD designer, Molly Cook. Don’t know Molly? Check out an interview with Molly HERE.
Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE
We do have a few different Brickwork kits available (sorry, not the fabrics used in this tutorial, though) – you can find the kits HERE
For this tutorial, we’re using yummy batik fabrics from the Hoffman collection Dragonflies at Dusk. I just love these gorgeous blues and lavenders – perfect for a snowy day like today.
Who am I kidding??? I just love the saturated colors, smooth hand, and interesting designs of batiks regardless of the weather outside. LOL!
Let’s get started with our cutting. If you feel comfortable layering a couple fat quarters with the right side facing up, the cutting goes super fast. But if you are only comfortable cutting one layer at a time, that works great too. You do you.
Next you need to pair up 2 matching smaller rectangles with a different larger rectangle. Sew the larger rectangle between the 2 matching smaller rectangles. This is a great block on which to practice your chain piecing skills.
Once you have all of the blocks pieced, head to the ironing board and press everything. It doesn’t matter how you choose to press these ones, just be consistent.
After pressing the blocks (sorry, for some reason I didn’t snap a photo of this step), we’re heading to the design wall (ie: a flannel-backed tablecloth – LOL!) to arrange our blocks.
Okay, now the real work begins – rearranging the blocks so we have a nice balance of colors and lights/darks. The funny thing is that sometimes this process takes longer than actually making the blocks added to the actual time spent sewing the blocks. Just take your time and keep arranging until you are happy with what you see.
This quilt did give us some challenges, though, because the fabrics looked either light or dark and we didn’t have a lot of medium values to balance things out.
Here are some photos showing subtle changes in block placement while we try to achieve a better balance of colors. Bear with us while we keep changing blocks around….
Finally! We found a pleasing block arrangement and then it was time to sew the blocks together into rows and then sew the rows together.
Here is the finished Brickwork quilt top! Now to layer it with batting and backing, quilt it, bind it, and label it. Not sure how to do all of that? You can check out our 2022 Basic Quilting Skills Series over on the right side of the blog for useful tutorials on
Of course, if you’re interested in learning more about Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), we just wrapped up a 7 part series about Beginner FMQ, which is also located over on the right side of the blog.
I want to thank my pal, Robin, for helping me with this tutorial – thanks, Robin!
Have fun making your very own Brickwork and I look forward to seeing your quilts on our VRD Facebook Page.
Well, that’s it for me. Take care and find a little time to quilt this week.
I am so happy that spring has pretty much sprung here in NW PA, at least for right now, anyway! Last week the weather was simply gorgeous and after a day of cold temps, we’ve bounced back into spring. Today will be in the 70’s! For me, I know that spring is finally here when I fall asleep listening to the peepers. The robins, red- winged blackbirds, and grackles are back, too. When do you know it’s spring in your neck of the woods?
This week we are wrapping up our Beginner Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) series with some ideas for quilting borders. I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine – when I’m rushed for time, I use an allover design for the entire quilt, but when I have some extra time or if a quilt just needs it, I use a different design in the border. Let’s jump right in, there’s a lot to cover today.
If you missed any FMQ lessons, you can find them here:
I’m going to share with you 3 of my favorite go-to border designs along with variations of each to spark your creativity and to help you expand your FMQ toolbox of designs.
The hardest part of quilting borders, in my humble opinion, is making the transition around the corners. Usually, I add some kind of element in the corners to connect my border designs, but sometimes a design lends itself to bending around the corner without needing an element. Below, I’m going to show you both styles.
Zig Zags
Zig Zags are a SUPER border option when you’re just getting started with FMQ. It is a base design you can add to as your skills grow.
Here’s a good example of the basic Zig Zag design. You can see in the corner, I did an inverted triangle, which fills the space nicely and is a nice transition. The Zig Zag design is a very flexible design that can be sized to the width of the border strips – make it narrow for inner borders or wide for outer borders. You can even use it for sashings!
Above is the Zig Zag design doodled on my white board with my trusty dry erase marker. Easy piezy. Really.
If you’re not a fan of the inverted corner triangle, try some of your own ideas in the corners. Doodle, doodle, doodle.
Then when it’s easy for you to draw, it’s time to make a fresh practice square and practice quilting the Zig Zag design until you feel comfortable with it. Finally, take a deep breath and quilt it on a small project.
It might not be perfect, but that’s okay. Pat yourself on the back. It takes courage to do something new. I want you to remember there is no such thing as perfect. A finished quilt is a lot more satisfying than trying to find perfection and never finishing that project. YOU CAN DO IT!
Now let’s look at some variations of the Zig Zag border design. The following designs were created by quilting the border once and then going back and adding a second layer of quilting. The red line is the first quilting line and the blue line is the second quilting line in my doodles below.
PSST! One of the biggest secrets to quilting borders is that you don’t have to create the design in only one pass. Breaking a design into multiple passes can make a real jaw-dropping finished border design and you’ll be the only one who knows how simple it is, so don’t tell anyone, okay?!?
Double Zig Zag
Double Zig Zag is simply quilting the basic Zig Zag design and then echoing another line either above or below the original Zig Zag. Depending on what you put in the corners, you might have to make a different transition than the one I used.
Mirror ImageDiamonds
In this variation, I quilted the basic Zig Zag design and then with my second pass, I quilted the mirror image to make Diamonds. Again, depending on your corner element, you might have to come up with your own transition.
Argyle
Here I overlapped 2 lines of Zig Zags, off-setting the second Zig Zag about a half a Zig Zag so that the points are opposite of each other.
Trees
I LOVE this design! So many ways to use it. The first pass is the basic Zig Zag design – just make sure to leave enough space at the inside edges of the border so you have room for your second quilting pass with the trunks. I drew over my corner inverted triangle on the second pass and made it into an outward-facing tree. SEW cute!
I’m going to stop making Zig Zag variations right now or else I’ll never get to show you the 2 other designs! Have fun creating your own variations. I warm you though, it can be addictive. LOL!
Hillside
I’m calling our 2nd border design Hillside. It’s a lot like Zig Zag, but with curves instead of points. This design can also be used as an allover design and it lends itself to lots of variations. Yay!
I’m sorry if the example above might be a little hard to see because of the blue backing fabric, but I think you can still make out the Hillside design.
You’ll notice I quilted a teardrop shape in the corner, but you can place any element you want in your corners, or omit corner elements entirely. Be creative, make this design your own.
Here’s my Hillside doodle on my white board. Fun, huh? I really like using this design because curves can be very forgiving.
On the following Hillside variations, please note that the red line is my first quilting pass and the blue line is my second pass.
Grab your white board and doodle along with me!
Hillside Fans
This version is a very simplified Baptist Fan. Like the Zig Zag design, you can size this design for any width of border. If it’s a really wide border, you can quilt multiple passes of the Hillside design to fill the space. In this version, I moved over half a Hillside to offset the second row. I also opted to skip the corner element and simply quilted a big Hillside arc in the corner. Snazzy!
Hillside Echo
Here is Hillside with an echo. This design has a great vibe, is easy to do, and looks very nice on a quilt. Again, I omitted the corner teardrop and just made 2 passes of Hillside.
Rainbows
Isn’t this a really fun and quirky Hillside variation? It looks great on kids’ quilts but could also look elegant on a formal table runner, too. Again, I did not draw a corner teardrop, instead I just let the Hillside Echo strut its stuff. This design is also made with 2 passes; however, you can add as many Rainbow passes as you want and have space for – the more the merrier!
Hillside Zig Zag
Another big secret of FMQ is combining different designs together to make more interesting and more complex-looking designs. It just takes some practice, some time, and a sprinkle of patience. I drew the Hillside design first and then added the Zig Zag inside the Hillside as my second pass.
These are just a few beginner-friendly variations of Hillside. I bet when you’re doodling, you’ll come up with some more. Just don’t forget to actually try quilting on your practice square and once you feel comfortable, quilt a real small project! WOW!
Loops
I’m sorry, but I couldn’t find a quilted example of a border Loops design, so we’ll have to use my doodles as our reference.
This design is a lot like our basic Loop allover design from earlier in the series , but it is straight instead of meandering and the loops all point in one direction.
In the Loops design, above, I drew alternating big and little loops, which is sometimes called E’s and L’s.
Most of the time, though, I make my loops roughly the same size instead of alternating big and small. Grab your white board and try this one out. When you’re ready, try it on your practice square. I bet you’ll get comfortable with this design quickly, so don’t forget to move on to quilting an actual small quilt project.
Now let’s play with a couple Loops variations. Like the previous designs, the red line is my first pass and the blue line is my second pass.
Lace Edge 1
This quilt example, above, is a corner of my recent Erin table runner. I added a simple leaf in the corners because of the foliage border fabric. Want to see more of the quilt? You can find the Erin pattern HERE.
In this Lace Edge doodle, I did Loops (all roughly the same size) for the first pass and then I quilted Hillside as the second pass. This is absolutely one of my favorite designs – hands down! I use it often, quilting different elements in the corners or no elements at all.
Lace Edge 2
In this Lace Edge variation, I quilted 2 rows of Loops, but I flipped the second one over so it was facing the first pass of Loops and I moved over a half space. This design can look stunning on quilts. And complicated, too. SHHH! Never tell anyone how easy it really is. LOL!
Once you’ve quilted your quilt, it’s time to add binding to finish the edge. And don’t forget your label.
Check out these posts from our 2022 Beginner Quilting series:
I trust you’re all having fun with your Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) practice. We’re going to take a quick break from our Beginner FMQ series this week because I have NEW March patterns to share as well as a fun table runner tutorial just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. We’re all Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, right?
NEW March VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns
Here are the new patterns for March – be prepared to be inspired….
Molly created a brand new St. Patrick’s Day throw-sized quilt called Clover Patch. I just love that she added a single Four Leaf clover to her quilt – can you find it in the Clover Patch?
Molly also created a second pattern this month called Jackknife. This clever block uses long quarters instead of fat quarters. We still have a few kits left, too, if you’re interested.
Get your Jackknife kit in Art Glass AbstrArt HERE.
Heidi wows with her new 24″ panel quilt pattern, Jerky. If you don’t already know, Heidi always gives her patterns a foodie name because she loves to cook.
Rachelle created a new modern pattern called Kenosha. I love the secondary design that happens in this striking quilt pattern.
Pat, our Rose Queen, has another fun and fast throw sized pattern for you called Zamora. If you didn’t know, Pat always names her quilts after a rose. Yep, Zamora is the name of a rose. Zamora only uses three main fabrics plus a binding fabric. Sew easy piezy. We still have a few Zamora kits left, too.
We also have a new table runner pattern this month called Erin.
Get your digital Erin pattern HERE or your print Erin pattern HERE.
I’ve always wanted to make a green and white Double Irish chain for St. Patrick’s Day. I can now check that off my bucket list. The Double Irish chain looks complicated, but I promise you, it really isn’t when you break it down. Give it a try.
I guess I should have done a tutorial for today with Erin, but I’d already gotten Lucky stepped out and photographed before I even designed Erin. I’m sure I’ll do a tutorial for Erin sometime in the future – you’ll just have to stay tuned.
That being said, let’s move right along to our Lucky tutorial.
VRD Lucky Quilt Runner Tutorial
The first thing we’re going to do is gather up our fabrics.
I’m using a beautiful Hoffman batik collection called Forest Floor. Don’t you just love the greens? With a pop of orange? Love Love Love it!
The first photo shows the background and the greens for the blocks. The second photo shows the border and binding.
Grab your rotary cutter, board, and ruler and let’s start cutting out our pieces!
Now that our pieces are all cut out, let’s start sewing!
Layer a background square right sides together on the corner of a Clover square and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. I love my Frixion Fineliner pens and my 1×6 little ruler for making my flippy corners and HSTs right at my sewing machine. What are your favorite tools for making yours?
Next we’re going to sew on the drawn line.
Let’s cut 1/4″ away from our drawn line. Did you knou can use these little cut off triangles for a scrappy little project? I’ve been saving mine for a long time, and have even started sewing them into HSTs, but I haven’t started making anything with them yet.
TIP: You might notice in the photo below that my seam is slightly to the right of the drawn line. This is actually on purpose because it gives a bit more room for the seam and my flippy corners are more precise. I learned this little trick from my quilty pal, Mary Lee. THANK YOU, Mary Lee!
Don’t forget to press that flippy corner open.
We’re not done yet! Go ahead and make flippy corners on 2 more corners of the Clover square.
Okay, now we’re talking! Let’s repeat these 3 flippy corners for the rest of the Clover squares while we’re at it.
Finally it’s time to make a Clover block. Yeah! Sew 4 matching Clover squares together with the 4th unpieced corners towards the center so they all meet for the middle of the Clover block. Such a pretty block!
Repeat to make a total of 4 Clover blocks. Don’t you just love that pop of orange???
The next thing we need to do is sew the 4 Clover blocks together with background strips in between the blocks and at each end.
Then we’re going to add top and bottom background borders. Lookin’ good!
Now it’s time to add the side outer borders and then the top and bottom outer borders. And DONE!
Yay! All that is left to do is layer it with batting and backing, quilt it, bind it, and label it.
I hope you enjoyed the Lucky runner tutorial and are super inspired by the new March patterns. Next week we are going to wrap up our Beginner Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) series by addressing borders.
I hope you have all been practicing your Loops and your Loop variations from last week’s Lesson 5. This week we are going to continue Going Beyond Loops with 3 more Loop variations.
If you missed any of our Beginner Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) Lessons so far, you can find them all below:
I have also added a section over on the right side of the blog entitled 2025 Beginner Free Motion Quilting Series where you will be able to easily find all of the lessons in the future so you don’t have to sift through posts to find them.
Going Beyond Loops Part 2
If you’ve been having fun playing around with the Loop variations from last week, good for you! I hope you came away with the knowledge that you can add any kind of motif to the basic Loop design to change it up. Stars? Check! Hearts? Check Check! Elephants? Sure, why not. You just need to practice drawing an elephant motif without lifting your dry erase marker on your handy dandy white board. Practice until you are happy with your motif. Then practice drawing your Loops and motif together on your white board. Again, practice until it feels natural and you are not lifting up your dry erase marker (this is super important!). Then make a fresh practice square, take a deep breath, and just do it! This is my basic method for creating endless Loop variations. I’ve done hot air balloons and palm trees, to name a few. You can too, it only takes practice. And courage. You. CAN. Do. It.
Are you ready? Strap on your helmet and put on your your seat belt cause here we go!
#4 Double Loops
I think you’ll love these Double Loops – they are quick and fun and look great on most any project except maybe Civil War reproductions.
Check out my Double Loop example below. This is a close up of the quilting on my cover quilt for my Sunny Day VRD Rose Card pattern. Yes, I quilted a simple Feather design in the borders. LOL!
So, let’s grab our white boards and give Double Loops a try. Go ahead and draw a loop, then loop around the loop. Easy and very fun.
Now let’s practice connecting our Double Loops together.
Go ahead and practice this a bit until it feels comfortable.
It’s time to try this design on a practice square on your sewing machine. Below, you can see how I make Double Loops. It takes a little practice, but because you’ve already been working on the basic Loops design, adding a second loop around your first loop won’t take as long to master. So, get to it and quilt some Double Loops!
Wasn’t that a fun design? Just imagine all the quilts you can finish using this quirky and cool FMQ design? And don’t forget that you can change it up and make it entirely your own designs.
#5 Leaves
Leaves are a super element to have in your FMQ toolbox because leaves are all around us from the fabrics to the quilt blocks to the trees right outside the window. Can’t you picture how leaves will look quilted on your autumn quilts?
You can create leaves in just about any shape or style you can imagine. For this lesson, I’m going to show you a simple leaf or two. Feel free to use your imagination to come up with your own leaf shapes, too.
Here is a simple heart-shaped leaf for you to practice.
Once you get the leaf shape down, now it’s time to add it to your basic Loop design.
Go ahead and practice the Leaf variation until you can do it smoothly. Then it’s time to try it on your practice square with your sewing machine.
Here’s a quick video clip of me quilting the Leaf and Loop variation.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
#6 Flowers
Our last variation is adding flowers to our basic Loop design. Like leaves, you can create any flower shape you want or you can even mix different flower shapes together with you loops to create an entire quilted flower garden. For today, we are going to focus on Daisies.
Daisies are simple to make. A circle followed by a ring of petals. Add an echo around the daisy if you want as this will make your flowers stand out.
Now it’s your turn to doodle and draw some flowers on your white board. What’s your favorite flower? Can you draw it without lifting your dry erase marker?
Next we’re going to add our Daisy to our basic Loop design. Go ahead and practice this variation on your white board.
Okay, time to quilt the Daisy and Loop variation on your practice square with your sewing machine. You can do it. Of course you can.
Below is a short video of me quilting Daisies and Loops.
I hope you are having fun with all of the designs and variations we’ve been exploring. Keep practicing as often as you can, but don’t wait too long before you quilt a small project for real. A snack mat, place mats, table runner or other small project is the perfect sized project on which to hone your skills. So hop to it and get quilting the FMQ way.
I hope you’ll stop back in 2 weeks as we wrap up our Beginner FMQ series with our final lesson – Quilting Borders with Simple Designs. Next week we’ll be showing our March patterns and a fun quilt tutorial for St. Patrick’s Day.
I am thrilled to tell you that we’ve had a little bit warmer temperatures for a couple days in row here in NW PA. I’m talking above 32 degrees! Actually it’s been in the 40’s, which feels so balmy compared to last week’s temperatures in the single digits and teens. Whew! But I don’t think winter is over yet for us, though, as the beginning of March is looking cold again. Spring can’t get here soon enough!
PSST! While we’re waiting for Spring to arrive, it is a great time to work on our Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) skills, don’t you think? So far we’ve talked about tools, equipment, and resources; doodling, making loops, and using cursive writing as a quilting design.
This week for Lesson 5, we are venturing beyond the Loopy design.
If you missed any of the earlier lessons, you can find them below:
You might be wondering what exactly I mean by “going beyond loops”. Talk a deep breath — there is no need to panic. I promise we are not jumping right into Feathers. Relax, Feathers are ahead of you sometime in the future, but today is not the day. Instead, we are going to add some fun elements to our quilting to change up our basic Loopy FMQ design.
#1Snowflakes with Loops
This design is absolutely one of my favorites, hands down! It is quite flexible and looks great on a lot of different quilts. Depending on the theme of the quilt, it can look like a snowflake, a star, fireworks, a starburst, or even a cool funky flower. Wow! That’s a lot of options for a single element, isn’t it?
Here is an example of the Snowflake and Loop design on a Christmas/winter place mat I created years and years ago for a magazine pattern.
Please notethis place mat design was featured in Quilter’s World magazine some years ago and is a copyrighted design.
Grab your dry erase markers and let’s practice drawing Snowflakes or whatever you would like to call them on our white boards. You can decide how many spokes/rays you want your Snowflakes to have. You can even vary the number in your design to add more interest.
Next let’s add Loops to the Snowflakes and practice drawing our new Loopy variation design. Ready, set, go!Do you see how I surrounded each of the Snowflakes with my Loops? I like to use the Snowflakes as an accent, not the primary design. The primary design, of course, is the Loops. Additionally, I like to give my Loops lots of space to breathe.
Go ahead and practice drawing this design a couple times. Experiment with the Snowflakes (do you want 6 or 8 or more spokes/rays?).
Next, we’re going to FMQ this design on a practice square on our sewing machines. Are you ready? Take a deep breath and just do it.
To get you started, here’s a little video I made for you, showing how I create my Snowflake and Loop variation.
Here is a little example of quilting the Snowflake and Loop design.
Now it’s your turn to practice this design. Enjoy playing with it! Just imagine all the different kinds of quilts you can use it on!
#2Kindergarten Star with Loops
Do you remember when you first learned how to make a five-pointed star? Probably around kindergarten, I should think. Can you remember how to make it now?
Here’s a little tutorial to jog your memory. Keep in mind that I am left-handed so you might draw your star differently than I do. Remember, you do you.
Kindergarten stars aren’t too much different from the Snowflake element above. And once you get comfortable making a five point star again (believe me, it will take some practice for some of you to remaster this shape), the design will flow more easily. Go ahead and draw some Five Pointed Stars on your white board. Make as many as you can fit onto the board. Make them all different sizes, too.
Now let’s practice drawing Kindergarten Stars combined with our FMQ Loop design. Feel free to do this several times until it feels more natural to you.
I bet by now (that is if you’ve been practicing) you are probably finding alternating the direction of the loops to be easier than when you first started several weeks ago. Go you!
Keep practicing on your white board until you can draw the five point stars without thinking about each line. Then I want you to practice making those stars upside down and sideways or else your design will come out very linear with stars lined up going the same direction.
This design looks amazing on patriotic quilts and on children’s quilts, too. What other kinds of quilts would look great with Kindergarten Stars and Loops?
Next up, we’re going to try quilting this design with our machines. Before we do, though, here’s a quick little video showing how I FMQ Kindergarten Stars and Loops.
Let’s make five point Kindergarten Stars!
Okay, now it’s your time to practice quilting Kindergarten Stars paired with Loops! This is fun, isn’t it?
#3Hearts and Loops
Hearts will be our last design for today. So, how are you at making hearts? I have discovered that I can rarely make both sides of a heart exactly the same, so in my quilting (drawing and cutting, too), I intentionally make the sides of my hearts different. It lends a quirky funky look to my Hearts and Loops design, and that works just fine for me. LOL!
I have found that there are 2 basic ways to quilt hearts. Maybe you’ll come up with a different one and if you do, I hope you with share.
Anyway, the first way starts at the top center point and curves down and stops briefly at the bottom point before swooping back up and around to the center point once again. Remember, I’m a lefty so I usually move counterclockwise. Do what is comfortable for you.
The second way is one continuous line which might make it easier for you to FMQ hearts. It starts at the bottom point then curves up and around to the center point where you pause briefly before doing the second top bump and then swooping back down to the bottom point. This heart reminds me more of a heart shaped balloon – you’ll see this more when I quilt it.
So go ahead and practice your stars on your white board. Which style do you like better?
Now that I’ve mentioned both styles, I’m going to show and use the second style Heart design. I find that it can flow better with the loops than the first Heart style.
Now it’s your turn to practice drawing the Heart and Loop design on your white board. Repeat as many times as you want, experimenting with your Hearts.
Notice how I crossed the bottoms of the hearts in the design.
Let’s head back to our sewing machines and try FMQ Hearts and Loops. Here’s a quick video of how I do FMQ my Hearts and Loops.
Check out this cute little Hearts and Loops design!
Well, that’s it for me today. I hope you keep practicing your Loops and adding these fun elements to change up your designs. Next week I’ll have a few more Loop design variations to share with you. So stay tuned!
I hope you are ready for another Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) lesson! But before we do that, I want to take a moment and congratulate Janie in Texas, who is our 1000th email subscriber! WAHOO!!!!!! Thank you, Janie, for supporting the VRD Blog!
I trust you are all practicing your FMQ loops from last week’s leeson. Remember, don’t spend too much time doodling on your white boards before you actually start trying those loops out on your sewing machine.
If you missed our previous FMQ lessons, you can find them below:
I want to take a couple minutes to talk about useful beginning projects as you are developing your FMQ skills.
Projects to Build Your FMQ Skills On
Please don’t tackle a king sized Double Wedding Ring quilt top made by your granny in the Depression as your first FMQ project. I can almost guarantee that you will end up tearing everything out. First you must crawl before you can run!
Maybe you have a whole stack of meticulously pieced antique or vintage quilt tops just waiting to be lovingly completed and that’s your motivation for learning to FMQ. Goodness knows, there are probably as many reasons to learn as there are quilting patterns! But please slow down a little bit.
Do you remember when you learned to tie your shoes? It took a lot of practice before you successfully tied those shoestrings. Same goes with riding a bike. What about driving a car? Or doing pretty much anything you want to master – it all takes work and practice.
FMQ is like that, too. It takes practice to get to the level of mastery you want to achieve. Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day and most likely you will not be a master free machine quilter in a few practice sessions. It’s going to take some time to get where you want to be. But I promise you, if you put in the work you will get better every time you practice. And the more you practice, the more quickly you’ll be wow-ing your family and friends with your FMQ skills.
Okay, I’m jumping down off my soapbox now.
So you’ve been making up some practice squares and practicing those loops since Lesson 3 last week and you feel pretty good about alternating your loops to the left and to the right. Maybe those loops still look kind of like wiggly carrots sometimes, but you’re itching to quilt something for real.
I suggest starting with smaller projects that are not dear to your heart — potholders, baby bibs, snack mats, place mats, table runners, anything small so you won’t feel like you’re wrestling an alligator while you’re trying to FMQ. I bet you have some orphan quilt blocks lurking in your stash somewhere – make them into potholders or whatever. Then layer those practice quilt pieces with batting and backing (yes, I even give you permission to use up all your ugly fabrics as quilt backing). Now quilt them with loops! Loop to the left, loop to the right. Lots and lots of loops. Consider these practice quilt pieces as practice square variations. Hate how it turned out? Then recycle it into dust cloths. Guilt free. The important thing here is you are building up your FMQ skills by sewing over seams and through different fabrics. Just keep going and growing!
When I taught free motion classes for beginners, I asked the students to layer a printed panel with batting and backing as homework before class (along with their practice squares) and bring it with them. Panels are such a great beginner free motion quilting project because you haven’t put a lot of yourself into it with all the cutting, piecing, and/or applique that usually goes into a quilt.
If you love how your panel project turns out, that’s great! Put it on your wall and show it off or gift it to someone special and tell them you quilted it yourself. Enjoy that lovely feeling of pride in your work!
If you don’t love it, that’s okay, too, because panels are a nice size to make into lovely pet quilts for your own pets or your furry grandbaby. Or donate them to your local shelter or rescue. Either way, they will be used and loved. Of course, if any of your beginning projects end up a total mess, I give you permission to recycle them into cleaning rags.
Here’s great panel with borders already printed on it – just layer it and start quilting. You can find this panel by P&B Textiles HERE. Looking for more great panels? We’ve got ’em at the VRD quilt shop.
Let’s keep moving and dive into today’s lesson – we are going to practice our cursive writing as free motion quilting! Yup, let’s write our way to a finished quilt.
Writing as Free Motion Quilting
Most likely you know how to write in cursive but if you do not or haven’t done so for a long time, never fear – there are great resources and tutorials on the Internet and how-to books out there, too.
If you are like me, your handwriting is a combination of printed and cursive letters. And that is just fine. I am not going to wrap your knuckles with my wooden ruler, I promise. Your cursive writing doesn’t have to be perfect 4th grade handwriting, the letters just have to connect together. You do you.
Let’s use our whiteboards to write the lowercase cursive alphabet, connecting the letters in one long string. The reason I said the lowercase letters is because they naturally flow into the next letter, while not all capital letters will do that. We’re not looking for perfection here, so stop thinking and just do it. I found if I did it quickly without too much thought, I actually wrote better.
Go ahead and practice this a few times, you might be a little rusty and writing the letters on your board will bring back some of your muscle memory.
I hope you have a little room on your most recent practice squares – or you can put together another one like I did – because I want you to try to free motion quilt the alphabet. Seriously. This is great practice to develop a smoother flow to your quilting. So go ahead and quilt the alphabet a couple times.
That was kind of fun, wasn’t it?
Next up is writing your name in cursive on your whiteboards. Depending on the first letter of your name, you might be able to use a capital letter. Mostly, I just use all lowercase letters to keep things simple and so I don’t forget whether I’m using capital letters or not.
Since I’ve been doing this for a while, I’ve already figured out how to dot my i’s and cross my t. Cute, huh? Just my way to incorporate those zany loops into my quilted writing.
Go ahead and practice writing your name. You might have to do this a couple of times until you get the look you want. You can even try different ways to dot any i’s or cross any t’s. Or maybe a capital letter works for your first letter. Just have fun with it.
And now it’s time to quilt your name on your practice squares. Feel free to do this as many times as you want to in order to get the look that makes you happy. I used both a lowercase and a capital T below in my examples and I definitely prefer the all lowercase letters. I think it looks more whimsical with my loopy dotted i’s and my curvy swoosh crossed t. Which one do you like better?
Isn’t this fun? I think it’s pretty cool that my quilted signature looks a lot like my written one. Does your quilted signature look like your written signature, too?
Now let’s try writing other words on our whiteboards. One time I had the brilliant idea to quilt the word “baby” in rows across a baby quilt I was making for my coworker. I loved how it looked after I quilted it, but quilting one word over and over became quite tedious and I was so glad when I finished it. Afterwards, I wished I had included other baby words like bottle, bib, crib, bear, love, etc. That would have made my quilted written design that much more interesting. Oh well. Live and learn.
Let’s write! Just make sure all the letter are connected. Go ahead and experiment with dotted and crossed letters.
Now let’s connect words together into continuous lines. When I do this, I like to make a consistent number of alternating loops between the words to separate them and I leave lots of room between words to give them space to breathe, which makes the words a little easier to read.
Sorry, I couldn’t find a dry erase marker that wrote very well, but my quilting will look better.
Now let’s practice quilting the words together. Don’t forget to put loops between the words so you can read the words after you quilt them. You may have to be creative with any dots and crosses.
Now it’s your turn to use your cursive writing as a quilting design. Keep practicing. Don’t be afraid to try your FMQ on some actual projects, too — a panel or place mats or orphan quilt blocks turned into potholders. Go ahead – you know you want to! Keep practicing your alternating loop design, too.
Stay tuned next week for Lesson 5: Going Beyond Loops. See you then!
Take care and stay warm. It was -3 this morning here in northwest Pennsylvania. BRRRR!
I hope all of you are weathering the winter so far. Here in NW Pennsylvania, Mother Nature is laughing at us this year and is giving us a good old-fashioned Pennsylvania winter with lots of ice and snow. We haven’t had this much snow or cold temperatures for something like 5 years. I guess Mother Nature wanted to remind us what Pennsylvania winters are really like. Sigh…..It’s been a long long winter and I am so looking forward to spring.
We have a lot to cover today, including NEW patterns and we’re going to continue with our Beginners Free Motion Quilting Series. Thank you for your patience while we celebrated Pat’s new fabric collection, Bedazzled!, here on the blog for the last couple weeks with 2 new quilt tutorials.
If you missed the tutorials, you can find them here:
What a great group of quilts, right? Barnum is Jelly Roll friendly. Miranda and Southern Peach are fat quarter friendly. Espresso features a horizontal panel, which is super because it’s hard to find horizontal panel quilt patterns. Facetime uses panel squares or a focal fabric.
We’ve got kits, too! (PSST! A new quilt project is a great way to beat the winter blues.)
Here’s February’s new table runner pattern, Love Books. I have to admit I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, so why not a table runner to reflect my bookish nerdiness?
Do you have an embroidery sewing machine? Why not embroider the titles of your favorite books or the books you read in 2025 on the runner? You can make this runner as long as you’d like to, just add more fabric.
Get the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE
And here is our very last snack mat, Dear Heart. This makes me a bit sad because it’s been really fun creating a new snack mat for each month for an entire year, but at the same time, I’m excited about a couple new ideas, so stay tuned.
Get the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE
So there you have it — fast and fun new patterns for everyone.
Now let’s get back to our Beginner FMQ series.
Beginner FMQ Series Lesson 3: Practice, Practice, Practice!
Today’s the day! We are finally going to do some actual free motion quilting. Yippee!
First, I’d like to suggest you do a little doodling to warm up before sitting down at your machine. Let’s practice some loops on our white boards. I wouldn’t doodle more than 10-15 minutes, though, this is just a warm up.
Next up, we’re going to put together a practice square.
I usually choose a light tonal or solid colored fat quarter and something from my ugly pile for the back fat quarter. And my usual 80/20 batting.
Next we’re going to go ahead and layer the 2 fat quarters with a piece of batting just like you would layer an actual quilt for machine quilting.
I’m a pinner, so I use curved safety pins, but you use whatever works best for you (pinning, spray basting, etc.). I like to use the size 2 (1.5″) or size 3 (2″) curved safety pins.
Go ahead and get your practice square ready, I’ll wait right here for you.
Did you know that cotton fabric will stick to cotton batting if you press it with your iron? Sometimes, I just press everything really good and I skip the pins.
Okay, now let’s practice!
Here are some important points to remember from the video:
Don’t forget to put your presser foot down before you start quilting
Pull the bottom thread up to the top before securing your stitching by stitching in place a couple of times
Start in the middle of your quilt
Use your hands as a frame around the needle — keep your fingers away from the needle, please
Unless you are planning to pop a not into the batting to secure the stitching, cut the threads tails off so after you’ve secured them so they don’t get all tied up in your stitching
Size your loops/quilting to your project
Alternate your loops to the left and to the right
Curve into and out of your loops for a more organic flow
Don’t crowd your loops, give them room to breathe
Quilt to an edge and then move around the quilt like you would a clock face
Move at a comfortable pace, you are not racing the needle
Aim for consistent regular stitches, not perfection
Go for beauty, not perfection!
Stop with your needle down in the quilt, then reposition your hands
Remove the pins as you go, don’t sew over them
OOPS! I forgot to mention that for your practice squares, make sure to use a contrasting thread so you can see your quilting.
Here is the front and the back of my practice sample:
I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. I wish the thread hadn’t broken, but looking at it in the photo, you really don’t see it. See how the printed fabric on the back (my “ugly”) distracts your eye from the stitching. So, one of my best tips is to use a busy fabric on the back of your quilt to help distract the eye from your quilting, especially if you are still learning.
Do you have any questions right now about FMQ? If so, please post them in the comments section so I can respond.
Your mission, should you accept it, is to make more practice squares and practice. Practice, practice, practice makes better, not perfect. So get to it!
It’s OFFICIAL! Throw the confetti! Toot your party horns! YEAH!
Pat’s NEW fabric collection for Riley Blake Designs, BEDAZZLED!, is finally here and we are all SEW excited!
To celebrate Pat’s new fabric collection, I’m sharing another great tutorial with you this week – 2M Junior.
Next week, we’ll dive right back into the Free Motion Quilting Series, I promise.
VRD 2M Junior Quilt Tutorial
2M Junior is the little brother of 2M. Junior has the same block, only it’s a bit smaller so the quilt finishes as a throw quilt instead of a big bed-sized quilt like big brother 2M. It also uses a different block configuration, which gives it its own personality.
For the pattern cover quilt, I actually used samples of Bedazzled! and, boy, does it sparkle. And I mean that both figuratively and literally – don’t forget that Bedazzled! features glitter and glam. OHHHHH, SHINY!
I’m happy to say we have some kits made up for 2M Junior featuring Bedazzled! You can get your Bedazzled! 2M Junior kitHERE.
OH! I can’t forget big brother 2M, can I?
You may already know the story, but let me share it again. I designed 2M for my youngest niece, Morgan, as her high school graduation quilt. She asked for something modern. Yes, she loved it (and still does).
If you enjoyed the Baby Zip Tease tutorial last week also featuring Pat’s Bedazzled! collection, we now have kits for it, too. You can get your Baby Zip Tease kit HERE.
All right, back to our previously scheduled programming….2M Junior. Tehehe….
First thing we always do is gather up our fabrics for the project. The 2 teal batiks are from Riley Blake’s Expressions basics. And the fat quarters are, of course, from Pat’s Bedazzled! collection. Simply scrumptious, aren’t they???
Once I’ve gathered up my fabrics, I like to cut all the pieces out for the quilt before I begin sewing. Do you do that or do you cut your pieces as you go?
Okay, now we’re ready to sew!
Let’s add a background rectangle to the left side of a block center.
Next we need to sew a background rectangle to the top of the unit.
Then we’re going to sew accent strips to the sides and then to the top and bottom of the unit.
Now we are going to sew a background rectangle to the smaller block center rectangle and sew it to the bottom of the unit.
The next step is to sew another background rectangle to the longer block center rectangle and then sew it to the right side of the block. Our first block is done!
Easy Piezy, right? Now repeat to make the rest of the quilt blocks.
We’re going to lay out the blocks and move them around until we’re happy with how things look.
Warning – sometimes this step takes longer than actually making the quilt top (especially if it’s a VRD Rose Card pattern – they’re fast and fun, you know!). Yikes!
Okay, I like how the fabrics are distributed around the quilt now, so I’m going with this arrangement. Don’t you just love how the squares and boxes tumble down the quilt?
Hurry! Let’s sew the blocks together and then sew the rows together before any furry helpers make an appearance and rearrange the blocks when I blink.
And – guess what????? No borders on this one! Yippee!
It is my humble opinion that not all quilts need borders. What are your thoughts on borders?
Here’s another photo of the 2M Junior quilt top. Yummy, yummy, yummy!
Now the top is finished, it’s time to layer it with batting and backing (or fleece for a cozy back). Quilt it. And please, don’t forget your quilt label! DONE!
Need a little help with batting, backing, and layering everything together? VRD to the rescue! Check out this post from our Basic Quilting Skills for Beginners series, Basic Quilting Skills for Beginners: Batting, Backing, and Preparing a Quilt for Quilting. You can find all the lessons in the Beginner series over to the right of the blog, under the Blog Topics Heading or down further as a heading with the lessons listed below.
Once everything is layered together, then it’s time to quilt! Yay! And we are right in the middle of a new series for 2025 — Free Motion Quilting. Lucky You!
We interrupted the series for a couple weeks to celebrate Pat’s new collection with a few new tutorials, but next week, we’ll be moving on to Lesson 3 in the FMQ series.
If you missed the first couple FMQ lessons, you can find them below:
You can also find the different series we’ve done over on the right side of the blog, farther down, each under its own heading. Have fun checking them out!
Bedazzled! Update
Since last week’s post, we’ve added some more fun Bedazzled stuff to the shop (physical and online). Here’s the 411 –
And here’s the San Julian Rose Card pattern. Please note that the pattern comes in each kit, so you don’t need to order it separately. I’m adding the links below, though, in case someone needs it by itself.
Whew! That was a lot today, wasn’t it? Thanks for celebrating Pat’s new fabric collection, Bedazzled!, with us here on the blog. I can’t wait to see your new Bedazzled! quilts on the VRD Facebook page soon.
Well, that’s it for me today. Remember, next week we’re jumping back into our Free Motion Quilting series.
Pat’s new fabric collection for Riley Blake Designs, BEDAZZLED!, is finally here!!!
I’m so sorry, but I have to pause our new Free Motion Quilting series so I can celebrate Pat’s new collection. I promise to continue our FMQ series in a couple weeks because I have 2 new tutorials to share, featuring Pat’s Bedazzled! collection.
Here she is – Pat Fryer, owner and Rose Queen of Villa Rosa Designs and designer for Riley Blake Designs
Bedazzled
A yummy color-drenched batik collection with glitter accents because one can never have enough glitter!
Or you can find the Bedazzled fabric by the yard HERE
Although they aren’t ready yet, soon we will have kits for Baby Zip Tease in Bedazzled!, so check back soon. I’ll add the link HERE just as soon as it’s available.
BUT WAIT! There’s MORE!
There is one more piece to the collection – a one of a kind Bedazzled tin just the right size to store your VRD patterns! I’m not sure how many patterns it holds yet because I haven’t received my tin yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know when I find out. There’s no question about how to store your VRD Rose Card patterns now. Get yours ASAP, because I know they’ll sell out quickly.
I was at my pal, Robin’s house (Hi Robin!) the day I created this tutorial. We have sew days as frequently as we can. Robin has a lovely sewing room upstairs in her farmhouse with room for at least 2 people to sew.
In fact, I leave one of my sewing machines there all the time so I don’t have to drag one back and forth. Her husband, Rich (Hey Rich!), threatens to charge me rent. LOL!
Robin and her big kitty boy, Tigger. Tigger has a very important job — to hold down any project Robin tries to work on! LOL! Anyone else have one of these special furry helpers?
So let’s get started with our Baby Zip Tease tutorial!
Of course, the first thing we need to do is gather up our fabrics and cut what we need for the project. I’m using a 5″ stacker from Pat’s new Bedazzled! collection and a yummy Riley Blake Designs Expressions Batik basic.
Let’s make some Half Square Triangles (HSTs).
Photo 1: Layer a print square right sides together (RST) with a background square. Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.
Photo 2 and 3: Sew 1/4″ away from both sides of the line.
Photo 4: Cut apart on the drawn line.
Photo 5 and 6: Press open to make 2 HSTs.
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Don’t stop now, go ahead and make the rest of the HSTs .
Square up and trim your HSTs. Cut off all the little “dog ears.”
At this point, you can sew your HSTs into rows and then sew the rows together. But where’s the fun in that???
I wanted to make sure the colors and fabrics were spread evenly throughout the quilt, so I put the HSTs up on Robin’s flannel wall and spent some time moving HSTs around to distribute colors and patterns. Argh! Sometimes this part of the process takes the most time.
This was actually a very important step for me because I kept turning the HSTs the wrong way. This was certainly one quilt project that being left-handed made more difficult. Of course, Robin pretty much just laughed at me every time I had to rotate a block in 90 degree increments until I got it going the right way. SHEESH!
Once I was happy with how it looked, it was time to sew the HSTs into rows. Finally!
Sigh…….I can’t tell you how many times I ended up turning a block on my way to the sewing machine. Time to unsew…….
What’s your favorite seam ripper? Mine is the Clover Ergonomic Seam Ripper seen in the photo below, but have you seen Clover’s latest seam ripper?
I just ordered one and I’ll let you know what I think after I try it out. If it’s as good as the one I already have, I’ll probably love it. Just sayin’……
Got that flipped HSTs fixed and survived sewing the blocks into rows – barely! Now it’s time to sew the rows together.
I’m really liking the cool zig zag effect! Let’s keep sewing those rows together! We are making progress!
YAY! Quilt top finished! Woohoo!
Now you get a chance to see how the fabrics of Bedazzled! play together. Aren’t they really great with the dramatic purple background fabric?
Next week I’ll have another Bedazzled quilt tutorial for you. The week after that we’ll continue on with our FMQ series. So please stay tuned!
Be sure to tune into our Fry-Day Live Sale tomorrow for more information and a closer look at the Bedazzled collection. You can find the Live Sale HERE on Fry-Day from 7-8 PM EST. You can also find the Live Sale on Facebook HERE.
I’m excited to continue on our Beginner Free Motion Quilting adventure! Put your seat belt on and get ready to ride!
I hope you had a chance to read last week’s post, which was a lot of information about things to know before you start. You can find Lesson 1 HERE.
Please note that I’m adding the FMQ series to the right side of the screen under the Blog Topic section so that it’s easy to find each lesson as they get posted.
Lesson 2 – Let’s Doodle!
All right! In Lesson 2, we’re going to DOODLE! Yep, that’s right! DOODLE!
Whenever I taught a Beginner FMQ class, I started out with doodling on a dry erase board. I actually bought a class set of boards which came with felt erasers and even markers, which was super for a class with 4-12 students.
Any kind of dry erase board works – you don’t have to buy a special classroom set (unless you plan to teach FMQ – LOL!). You can even find dry erase boards and dry erase markers at your local Dollar Tree store. So if you don’t already have one, they are easy to find and relatively inexpensive to purchase.
Just make sure you are using real dry erase markers (not sharpies!) on your board or else you won’t be able to erase it and use it over and over.
You might wonder why I’m starting off with doodling and not just jumping right into FMQ on the sewing machine.
Doodling gives you the opportunity to develop eye hand coordination and to build muscle memory. Believe it or not, but doodling really does help when you are starting out with FMQ. If you’ve practiced the movements on your board, they will come easier and more quickly when you are working with your sewing machine.
Besides, doodling is fun and relaxing. You can do it while watching TV, during the commercials, listening to your favorite audiobook, or even while waiting at the doctor’s office! AND you have the ability to erase your doodling whenever you want to. Yay!
Zigzags
Let’s start out with some fun zigzags. Zigzags will help us to feel comfortable moving across the board and going up and down at the same time. Like hills and valleys. V’s and W’s. Give it a try. Make sure to connect each shape/letter with the next one.
Curves and Waves
Let’s practice some gentle curves and waves on our boards just to get a feeling for the smooth movement. Don’t overthink this, just relax and glide across the board. If desired, you can even practice these motions in the air with your hands and arms. I’ve always been a big proponent of “air writing.”
ABC’s
Now let’s try some cursive writing! Believe it or not, but lowercase cursive letters are great practice for FMQ! Seriously! Make sure you are connecting the letters together. I find that the faster I write the alphabet in cursive, the better it looks. Don’t think about the shape of each letter – you already know it – just write it.
Go ahead and write your name in all lowercase cursive letters. You know you want to! Try some other words, too. Just remember to connect the letters together. Feel free to have some fun like I did with my name when I dotted my i’s and crossed my t.
Okay, now we’re going to focus on the cursive lowercase “E” (e) and the lowercase “L” (l). Just keep connecting them together.
After you are comfortable making e’s and l’s, I want you to try alternating the loops. This may be challenging for some of you, but keep doodling until you feel more comfortable with this. Doodle, doodle, doodle.
We definitely want to alternate the loops, or else we’ll get something like this. Yikes! The idea is to move across the board and fill in the white space, not to make clouds and weird flowers.
Once you’ve got alternating the loops reasonably down, we’re ready to add more movement to this design. This time we’re going to move our loops up, down, and across the board while alternating the loops (yep, all at the same time!) so we can fill up the white space.
Try not to overthink things here. Don’t stress yourself out if things aren’t perfect – we’re not going for perfection here. I find the faster I go, the better it looks. Remember, you can keep erasing it and trying again.
Loops!
Wohoo! Pat yourself on the back! You are making loops!
Loops are one of my favorite and best go-to designs. AND it’s the design I start out with when I teach FMQ! Go you!
I’ve found Loops to be more beginner friendly for most people. Being able to cross over your lines gives you a little more feeling of control. I have found, though, that perhaps 1 in 10 quilters have a hard time mastering loops – mainly the alternating of them – so those folks I encourage to move on to stippling/meandering.
Have you ever taken a beginner FMQ class where the teacher starts you out with stippling/meandering? I bet there are a lot of you who felt really frustrated because you couldn’t master the design and may have even quit trying to master FMQ after that class.
Well, I’m here to tell you that –
YES, YOU CAN MASTER FMQ!
So “let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start” (kudos if you can name the movie, the song, and the actress for this quote).
And the very beginning is making loops!
I hope you’ll spend a little time doodling this week because next week for Lesson 3, we are going to start working with our machines and our Loopy design. I’d love to see your doodles in the comments or on our VRD Facebook page.
Villa Rosa Quilts 