Good Morning, Quilters and Flower-Lovers!
Today we have a motif straight from the garden (well not yet…my garden is mostly weeds and blooming crabapple trees…but the rest of the garden is poking up their sleepy little heads waiting for the SUN to come out in full force!) Spring is slow to develop here in Minnesota…
THE SUNFLOWER FREE MOTION QUILT MOTIF
The Sunflower begins with the Dots and Dashes motif.
Draw parallel lines equidistant apart. (In the tutorial below, the lines are one inch apart.)
Next stitch clockwise and counter-clockwise circles, separated by a long “dashes” along the line.
Now comes the fun part…
Echo stitch the stem, then add three scallops around the circle to the bottom stem.
Add three more scallops on the left side of the circle (Dot).
Stitch around the circle, tracing the ON the stitches to the bottom of the circle.
Echo stitch next to the stem and add a pair of leaves, perpendicular to the stem.
Stitch a Sunflower on every “Dot” or stitch alternate rows of Sunflowers and plain “Dots and Dashes” for this cheery little background fill pattern.
It would be very easy to create a vine effect with this motif by adding a little curve to the “Dashes”
You already know what I’m going to recommend, right???
Doodle Away to find YOUR favorite variation of this pattern!
Cheeri-O!
Lori
PS. This tutorial was stitched with Sulky Rayon 30wt on top and Sulky 60 wt polyester in the bobbin using a size 90 Topstitch needle on my BERNINA 820 (without a stitch regulator.)
PPS. 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!
