Freehand Quilting

I find myself in the very fortunate position of having a number of comfort or charity quilts to stitch. These lovely quilt tops give me the opportunity to learn as I go and to practice my own longarming designs. When I am faced with a client’s top and I am still not completely sure what approach I will take, I load one of these tops on my machine and stitch away. It is always interesting because I often have an idea of what I will be quilting and then when I start, well, what I stitch is usually nothing like what I have been sketching out and practicing in my cool and handy Wipebook my sweet daughter gifted to me.

This time I did stick to my plan and I am especially pleased with this design. I love being in front of the needle on my longarm. In some ways it reminds me of my days wielding a brush and letting the paint flow!

This design is one I randomly stitched on a sampler with while at Road to California and I was itching to take it a step further and develop it into a full edge to edge freehand design.

I always tend to try to fill every space and I working to learn the fine art of less is more - for some quilts! I think it has a lovely, casual feel and yet maybe is a bit folksy as well.