The Poinsettia-A Free Motion Quilt Tutorial
Good Morning Quilters and Quilt-Lovers!
Today is December 2. The Count-down to Christmas has begun! It is my FAVORITE time of year…decorating, baking, entertaining, shopping, presents and lots of FAMILY TIME! With all this extra-curricular activity, please be patient if I don’t post every day through out December. There will be just three Tuesday Tutorials in December…
Today’s tutorial is EASY, forgiving and goes anywhere! The Poinsettia would look great on ANY Christmas quilt, traditional or modern. This poinsettia would make a gorgeous Christmas pillow, or it would be beautiful in the corner of a Christmas napkin. Stitch three down the center of strip of fabric–perhaps on-point to create a table runner….
Once you start stitching, you won’t want to stop….
THE POINSETTIA FREE MOTION QUILT TUTORIAL
Begin by drawing a square.
(For the tutorial below, I used 4-1/2 inch square. Odd size you say? That was the size of the ruler I picked up–make it easy on yourself, use whatever size square ruler is at hand. This motif looks great at 4 inches or 15 inches! )
Begin by stitching a cluster of circles. (See Pebbles Quilt Tutorial) If your square is small, 6-7 circles will be sufficient. If your square is larger, add more.
Next stitch a pointy petal. End the petal CLOSE TO but NOT touching the cluster if circles.
Echo stitch the inside of the petal.
Stitch over one or two stitches and stitch a vein into the center of the petal.
Echo stitch the vein and then stitch out of the first petal.
Continue stitching petals around the center.
Echo stitch halfway outside of the last petal to begin the next row of petals.
Each petal is stitched the same way…Stitch a pointy petal, echo stitch the inside, stitch a vein.
Then stitch out and around the first row of petals to begin the next petal.
Continue adding rows of petals until the block is nearly filled- two or three rows.
The Perfect Poinsettia:
For more embellishment, add a few festive Curls (See Curl Tutorial HERE)
Continue adding Curls around The Poinsettia to fill the block.
Can’t stop quilting?…Add Pebbles around The Poinsettia.
I’d call this POINSETTIA POP!
What could be prettier than three Poinsettias in a row to create a Christmas table runner?
Grandma would LOVE this for Christmas!
What about YOUR Christmas list?
Who do YOU know that needs a new table runner?
A Poinsettia table runner–PRICELESS!
Later this week…see what I’m making with this gorgeous motif…
Signed,
Elf Lori
North Pole Quilters
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
Decorating Christmas Trees with Free Motion Quilting
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 and share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com Thanks!
Beeaa-uuuuuuuu-tiful!!!!! What a lovely gift you’ve given all of us. I turning the computer off right now and am heading to the sewing room to draw this and hopefully stitch it up today. Merry Christmas, Lori….I pray you and yours will have a most joyous, prosperous and peace-filled New Year. Blessings….kathy
…..ooops…that should read “I am turning…”…..senior moment!
That is what I like to hear–instant action!
Just gorgeous!
Thank you for sharing Lori. This one is beautifully festive.
Lori, what an artist you are–with the sewing machine and the camera. I love how you captured the poinsettia with both machines. Thank you!!!
Lori – there are no words that can describe your creativity. This poinsetta is absolutely beautiful – I am going to make time to try this one. Best wishes to you and your family for a happy holiday season.
Thank you for your beautiful motifs Lori — always inspiring!
Dear Elf Lori………….that’s totally gorgeous and allows us “quilting junkies” to exercise our obsession…..er…passion!!!!! Thanks so much for the tute. Off to do some hours of Christmas piano at the Winona hospital this morning (and each Tues. in Dec.). Really gets everyone thinking pleasant thoughts………………………..
Wow you did it again, love the poinsettia. I will miss getting your emails but you definitely deserve a break and this is the season for enjoyment not for stressing out. Enjoy Christmas and family and make some great memories for all.
This is lovely…I’m giving it a whirl too. Mom will love it and a friend with a very blah desk at the courthouse needs a mug rug pointsetta I’m thinking. I am going to enjoy it this morning for at least an hour…maybe if I give myself a permitted time I won’t rush.!! Gave myself TMJ trying to finish a football quilt for my nephew last night! No matter how hard I grit my teeth and smashed on the foot control I just couldn’t get the machine to sew any faster….LOL! My jaws still hurt this morning! Good Grief!!
Have a wonderful sewey kind of day. 🙂
Good grief!
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Lori, your beautiful talent never fails. Again, your post is the first I open each morning–it is just like “opening a Christmas present.”
We’re still giving blankets to homeless veterans & I’m trying to figure out something nice to put on each. Not sure if I can get this done on all of them or not.
Working on a Poinsettia table runner as we speak! This might work nicely in the corner blocks! Thank you for all these wonderful tutorials!
So pretty! I can’t wait to try this one. Lori, you are marvelous!
Thank you Lori! I have a candle mat just waiting for me to do the fmq on. This is perfect. And also thanks to the person that mentioned a mug rug, what a great idea!
Wow, wow wow!!!!! I love this and so pretty on red. I’m going to the LQS today to get my BOM and picking up some red to make a runner…. or at least attempt it!
Your work is just amazing!!!!
WOW! Love it!!
Holy cow! That is AMAZING! Lori you do such beautiful work.
Lori,
Love your idea to use this tutorial for a mug rug. I’m always looking for some way to personalize my gifts with a little something and this is perfect for my office “comrades”.
Happy Holidays.
Wow! I need to buy red fabric. If I leave work right now…no, someone will notice. I just finished a quiltlet – small table topper type – with grid pop in center and bordered with holly leaves – lines between the grid and the holly and lots of echo quilting. It has hundreds of errors but I can only see a few. Surprisingly the chalk outlines disappeared as I quilted. If I can figure out how, I’ll post it to your flickr account. And I can only echo the others, your work is amazing and inspiring. I would never have tried this without your tutorials. Thank you for being and sharing.
Your table topper sounds beautiful! I would looove to see it!
You have so many wonderful free motion quilting designs! So original and artistic. thanks so much for sharing your work with us!
This is so pretty! Thank you for all your generosity!
Wow, that is so lovely – and complex!
Won’t it be wonderful Lori – if my plan actually works – I will start your tutorials in January (no time before then!) and work through practicing madly and… maybe… by next Christmas I will be able to tackle this beautiful poinsettia.
Thank you as always for your inspiring creations…
I love a girl with a plan!
Very nice-makes me wish I were a quilter!
This is so beautiful!
Thank you for sharing.
I posted it, Flickr used my work email instead of my private email, not quite sure why.
Can someone please help me. I am free motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine, dropped the feed dog, stitch length at 0, darning foot on, tension meeting in the middle and all goes well until I try to go backward. I can’t move the fabric and the needle hits something hard. As you may have guessed this is the first time I have attempted this. Anyone?
How large is the quilt you are working on?
I feel blessed to have found your “site”.
Thank you for all that you share. I love your Craftsy video!!
Life with the addition of grandchildren is beyond wonderful. Enjoy!!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!
Karen Quilts