I have referred to Leah Day's website and her 365 free motion quilt design projects in the past. Have to admit that her skills had me quite intimidated. Now, I see that Leah has reorganized her FMQ designs based on skill level, direction of the pattern, name of the pattern, etc. I find that the new organization makes it MUCH easier for me. (I'm a beginner and need to start with the easier designs.)

If you haven't looked at Leah Day's website in a while, check it out:

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.c...nd-design.html

Thanks for the heads up as I love her designs but a lot of them are so intimidating, well to me anyway :twisted:

I have just finished a throw using this pattern http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.c...ral-chain.html as the border I have done a few but have taken a while to master it, well nearly :-D

i pulled up the beginner ones and many of those look too complicated for me. but i haven't been on my frame in almost 3 years.

thanks for letting us know

I love Leah Day's designs and videos. I am just wondering how she manages an entire quilt vs those small practice blocks she does. Do any of you have any info on that?

Thank you for sharing, I have saved this to my computer!

Great site. I put it in my favorites.

i enjoyed looking at the samples, but can't see me keeping that up for more that 1/2 hour at a time!!

I have wondered the same thing.

Hi Stitchripper! To use the designs in your quilts, it's really just a matter of picking one design.

Pick a design and stitch it in the blocks of your quilt. Then if you're bored, pick another design and stitch it in your sashing. Then pick another for your borders or stick with the same sashing design.

It's really entirely up to you! Some designs will work easier in some places than others, and I plan to start adding quilting in real quilts to videocasts in July.

I'm sorry to hear that many of the designs are intimidating. I'll try to work on that...maybe a new area of super easy designs?

Anyway, I'm glad to hear ya'll like the changes on the site and I hope it helps everyone learn to free motion quilt!

Cheers,

Leah Day

Thanks for the info Leah! And, welcome to the board! You make quilting look so easy. I guess it is practice, practice, practice. I love your site and look forward to the newsletters you send out with the new designs.

Oh thank you so much for your post as I am an avid fan of yours and have learnt so much from your site, I have used a couple of your designs, my particular favourite for my borders, at present, is a row of the Spiral chain and I love it.

I am sure I would be backed by 100s of quilters to see you do some "super easy designs" as I am stuck with stippling and a couple of leaves n lines as my choice.

I am very intimidated by a lot of the designs as they mean you have to go over previous stitching and I am not at all comfortable with that, yet, but I am sure with your help from your site I will get there, one day. :-P

Thank you again.

I love Leah's site (and I'm not only saying that cos she's in the room! LOL) - I used to find some of the designs intimidating when I first stared FMQ (especially those requiring a lot of back tracking) but now, with lots of practice under my belt, I can manage most of them - and yes I use them on large quilts or use her ideas as jumping off points to create my own designs. Perhaps it would be fairer to describe her designs as 'aspirational' rather than intimidating - I believe we can ALL get there with PRACTICE. :D

I have a couple of quilts, for me :shock: to do so I thought I would practise some different FMQ designs, so I went to Leah's site and watched her first video on FMQ http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2010/08/all-over-quilting-part-1.html and this is what I came up with:

http://inlinethumb28.webshots.com/46...425x425Q85.jpg

It is not as good as Leah's but it is a definite improvement for me, thank you Leah, I am going to save up for your book and DVD.

BTW this was done on my Elna 7200 using a variegated thread from www.threadart.com top and bobbin, as the quilts are reversible.

looks really good! which pattern was that?

It was from her video where she shows you how to incorporate a design within your stippling and as I do stippling, about the only one I do well, I thought I would take her example of incorporating a clover leaf and I love it.

Awesome Quilting! It's just beautiful!

The design is called Wandering Clover and the original post and tutorial video can be found right here: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.c...ng-clover.html

I don't know about awesome but I am so chuffed with myself and also blushing at your compliment, thank you so much.

Count me in as another big Leah fan! Love her books and DVDs, which I have purchased from her online shop. I even purchased my sewing table from Leah. They offer very quick and courteous service, and she and her husband are lovely people to deal with.