A Lovely Floral Motif Combination

Floral motif combination
Good Morning, Quilters!

Today, a quick look at quilt with a winning motif combination: The Forget-Me-Not and Nora’s Rose.

Yesterday, we reviewed the lovely, Forget-Me-Not motif.

Nora’s Rose Tutorial

Nora’s Rose step-by-step tutorial is available in the LKQ Flower Motif Tutorials

and in my first book, Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3.

Also, check out the video of me stitching Nora’s Rose on BERNINA’s WeAllSew blog.

Nora's Rose motif, Lori Kennedy
A Great Motif Combination

Sometimes, the trick to free motion quilting is choosing the right combination of motifs. Nora’s Rose and Forget-Me-Nots is a winning combination of motifs!

Why?

There is good contrast between the size of the motifs.

Also, there is good density contrast between the two motifs. The Forget-Me-Nots are quite dense relative to the open rows of the Nora’s Rose motif.

Finally, the two motifs make thematic sense together.  I love the combination of flowers and leaves of different shapes and sizes. It is a combination you would likely find in any garden!

Forget-Me=Not and Nora's Rose motif combination
Thread Effects

For this quilt, I used a variegated color thread to create more texture in the background. Notice how the Forget-Me-Nots seem to disappear in some areas (where the thread matches the background fabric) and then are highlighted in other areas. The yellow sections of the variegated thread show up as highlighted areas within the quilting.

I stitched the background flowers with Sulky Blendables, 30 wt cotton  (Tropical #733-4043) to achieve this quilting effect.

Sulky Blendables, 30 wt cotton

The rose motifs and zig-zag border are stitched with Sulky 30 wt cotton in Bright White  which provides good contrast with the red fabric and shows up quite well.

Forget-Me=Not and Nora's Rose motif combination
Machine Quilting Tips from The Forget-Me-Not and Rose Quilt

When creating a quilting plan:

Choose motifs with good density contrast.

Combine motifs with size contrast.

Look for motifs with a common theme.

Use thread to emphasize your design goals.

Try variegated threads to create more texture.

And as always, HAVE FUN while you’re quilting, because YOUR quilts will reveal your fun!

YOUR Favorite Motif Combinations

We will be looking at more winning motif combinations in the coming weeks.

We’d  LOVE to hear YOUR favorites!

Now if I could only remember who I gave this quilt to!

Forgetfully yours,

Lori

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

PPS…This post contains affiliate links.  If you chose to purchase (at no additional cost to you) I may receive a little “pin-money”.  Thank you for supporting LKQ in this way!

 

15 responses to “A Lovely Floral Motif Combination”

  1. Wow!!! I cannot wait to use this one! I have a quilt in the queue for quilting that has a 36″ wide rose applique in the center – this is the perfect quilting motif for it! Thank you, Lori!!! Thought for the day: eat a bullfrog first thing every morning and nothing worse will happen to you for he rest of the day.

  2. I love all your beautiful quilt designs. I am currently working on a man’s quilt and flowers aren’t going to work! Can you refer me to or give me some ideas for male quilts!!

    1. For quilting the Fancy Foxes quilt (a gift for a baby boy, with the goal of it not embarrassing him in college) I used a wood grain motif. For the Labyrinth Walk quilt I made my husband, I did a LOT of pebbles on the “edges” of the blocks (still can’t bring myself to do pebbles again) and a simple serpentine back-and-forth on the other pieces.

  3. Lori, this is so adorable. ….Yeah, I like flowers, ha! I love this and I want to make it
    Maybe I will try this evening, but I am saving this page in my most important bookmarks.
    Happy almost the end of May. I hope the weather is becoming enjoyable for fresh air escapades in the gardens

  5. Hi Lori, I used your Nora’s Rose as a large motif in the center of pieced blocks on a table table runner I made. I started out drawing the design with a washable marker but after a few I did them FMQ. They were all very different but the over all affect was very lovely. Thank you for sharing!!!

    I love the Forget me nots in your quilt today. I’m so glad you explained the varigated thread as I was thinking – How did she have the patience to keep changing her threads LOL!!!

    Maybe I can start making my Bullfrog cleaning in the mornings as well – that is something I don’t do very often – not when there is quilting to do 🙂

  6. Hi Lori! I love the forget-me-nots using variegated thread. It’s beautiful! I usually avoid variegated threads because I don’t like the spaces where the thread disappears, but this is gorgeous! I can’t wait to find a place where I can use. I hope you get some good gardening weather soon!

  7. Thank you for the great pointers and tips on your blog. I own both your books and love the instructions and step-by-step pictures.

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