Claire’s Peony-A Free Motion Quilt Tutorial

November 4, 2015
FMQ, Peony,LCKennedy

FMQ, Peony, KennedyGood Morning, Quilters!

It’s Wednesday and we have our Tuesday Tutorial!  My computer is feeling better now…I had to upgrade my Mac and found Apple is no longer supporting my photo organizing and processing package, Aperture.  I had a few minutes of pure panic thinking my photos were lost…

For the long-term, this new system will be great, but in the short-term it is very time-consuming!

Enough…

Let’s talk about pretty posies…My five daughters, including the bride, Claire.  Claire was married in May and chose peonies for all the bouquets so I thought it would be appropriate to have this gorgeous flower as a motif on her wedding quilt.View More: http://madconjack1.pass.us/claire-and-andy-calcaterra-printToday, we will learn Claire’s Peony–a BEGINNER motif…it fits into any square and…FMQ, Peony, Kennedyis perfect for the center of the Wedding Ring Quilt.

WeddingRing.FMQ.LKennedy003

CLAIRE’S PEONY-A FREE MOTION QUILT TUTORIAL

Begin by drawing a square and marking the center.  Any size will work, from small to very large.  In the sample below, we are stitching an 8 inch square.

FMQ, Peony, Kennedy

Stitch a spiral directly in the center of the square and then stitch five scallop shaped petals around the spiral.  Try for five evenly spaced petals, but the flower will be lovely with 4-1/2 or 6…anything goes, really!
FMQ, Peony, KennedyNext, echo stitch the petals.

NOTE-Echo stitching gives any motif more boldness.  Whenever stitching on The Big Quilt, echo stitch a motif for more emphasis–it really helps.  In the case of Claire’s Peony, we are echo stitching each row of petals as well as the outer edge of the motif–very dramatic!FMQ, Peony, Kennedy

Stitch another row of scallop shaped petals.  This row will have several more petals than the previous row.   Avoid lining the petals up with the points of the petals all in the same place.FMQ, Peony,LCKennedy

Echo stitch this row of petals, then begin another row of petals.  Each successive row will have more petals.

Add as many rows of petals necessary to nearly fill the shape.

THE LAST ROW-

The echo stitching on the last row of petals is a little different…

Stitch all the way around creating the new layer of petals.

Begin echo stitching…

FMQ, Peony,LCKennedy

Then add a leaf in the corner.

Echo stitch the inside of the leaf.

FMQ, Peony,LCKennedy

Once the leaf is completely echo stitched…

FMQ, Peony,LCKennedy

Follow the line of the petals, add a vein, and continue around the Peony, adding more leaves and embellishments.

FMQ, Peony,LCKennedyIt looks best if you add small and large leaves around the Peony and perhaps an occasional spiral tendril.

FMQ, Peony, Kennedy Gorgeous!  Claire’s Peony!

This would make a perfect pillow…or add it to YOUR next quilt–any quilt with a square block or The Wedding Ring Quilt

Tomorrow, we’ll look how to modify this motif to create a border and fill the “melons”-the shape where the Wedding Ring Quilt intersects!

Throughout November we will continue to talk about Tips and Tricks for THE BIG QUILT!

May your stitches (and your computer) be happy!

Lori

PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only.  Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt.  For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com.  Thanks!

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