How to Free Motion Quilt a Sampler Quilt

As many of you know, I took a 3-month hiatus from work obligations and deadlines and it was amazing. During that time, in between supervising home learning and my one hour a day of legally-permitted time outside the house, I was able to work on a special passion project that was to become Women of Advent. I had no idea at the time just how much this quilt was to become a symbol of hope in 2020 for myself and many others too. It became a daily reminder that through all that life throws in our way, there is a hope that there is a plan in place.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
– Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

So when Sarah from The Quilted Diary asked me to share about this quilt for the Hope Quilts blog hop (more on that later), and specifically to do so during Christmas week, I knew I just had to say yes! A quick little intro for those who are new to Blossom Heart Quilts – g’day! I never actually say that in real life, but I’m Alyce (Ah-lease) and I live in the world’s most liveable city, Melbourne.

As for Women of Advent? Well, let me introduce her too… A popular tradition used through the season of Advent is that of the Jesse Tree – a tradition that started in the medieval church, using symbols to tell the story of God’s redemption woven throughout the Bible. It is a rich journey through the Bible, from Adam through to Christ, and comes from Isaiah 11:1 – There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. (ESV).

Women of Advent was inspired by this tradition, looking at many of the same stories but from the women’s perspective, and the stories of other women both in the family tree of Jesus and those that played a role in God’s plan for His people. Women of Advent is a quilt pattern, but it’s also a Bible study and a creative community exploring their faith through quilting.

Women of Advent is a sampler quilt – a type of quilt I certainly do lean towards (so many sampler quilt patterns proves my point) because of the opportunity for creative play! Each block presents a new chance for choosing fabrics, and for trying new techniques or new designs. For the Women of Advent quilt, it was also a chance to explore and meditate upon a different woman of the Bible and the lessons I can learn from her story. Their stories are full of loss and trials, and some really difficult situations, and that paralleled quite well with the 2020 experience for so many of us!

But once the top is pieced, you can then spend time quilting it block by block. Custom free motion quilting a sampler quilt is yet another opportunity for creative play! And in this case, some creative therapy too. Making with my hands, playing with shapes and designs, experimenting and producing.

Quilting my Women of Advent quilt was unashamedly done so to a soundtrack of Christmas carols. Focusing on that beautiful event coming up at the end of the year that I love to celebrate each year, singing along as I swirled and squiggled and swooped my way across the quilt… It brought such light and joy to some very dark days here in Melbourne!

I thoroughly enjoyed mixing it up with the motifs I used for each block. Most block backgrounds used the same few designs over and over, and then I was inspired by each block’s design to guide me in choosing what motif to use for the prints. Zig-zaggy spikey shapes for the palm branch and bulrushes, spiral chains for a brick wall, woodgrain for the cross.

How to free motion quilt a sampler quilt

Of course being me, I can’t just leave this blog post to be the sharing of my story with this quilt. I want to also share a few tips that will hopefully be useful when it comes time for you to free motion quilt a sampler quilt! It’s the teacher within – I just can’t not provide some educational value 😉

Decide on the quilting density

This is the first step when deciding how to free motion quilt a sampler quilt, as it will guide the rest of your decision making process. The more quilting you do, and the more densely spaced it is, the more stiff the quilt will be. The less quilting you do, and the more spaced out it is, the softer and drapier the quilt will be.

There are times when you want the quilt to be more densely quilted – a show quilt, a quilt that will be hung on your wall, and some types of home decor that benefit from being more densely quilted to keep it flat. But if your sampler quilt is destined to be on a bed or used on the sofa, then you might prefer to go with less quilting, and less-dense quilting motifs.

In the case of my Women of Advent quilt, I wanted it to be more densely quilted for two main reasons:

1. I wanted to have a lot of fun quilting each block individually!
2. This quilt is more a “show” quilt than a throw quilt (not that I have plans to enter it in a show), and as such, I wanted the quilting to show off the quilt design.

Both of those reasons combined mean that there is a lot more quilting on this sampler quilt than I would if it were to be a heavily used quilt. Having said that, though, I did leave the cornerstones completely unquilted so that they popped a bit!

Keep some consistency across the quilt

Whether it’s the background of the blocks or in the sashing, reusing the same design over and over somehow across the quilt helps to keep the quilt looking cohesive. For my Women of Advent quilt, there’s a few different background filler designs in the blocks, but I quilted a switchback motif in the sashing to provide that cohesive look across the quilt.

For sampler quilts that don’t have sashing, I use one filler motif in the background across the whole quilt. A big favourite of mine is a swirl motif and it especially looks good on star quilts to give that illusion of swirling galaxies! From there, you can then individually quilt each block.

Take inspiration from the block design for the quilting motif

If your sampler quilt is a pictorial sampler like Women of Advent, an easy way to choose the quilting motif for each block is to use the block design as the starting point. For a tear drop block, I quilted a paisley motif to echo the block design. For a jar, I used a woodgrain motif – is it particularly accurate for a clay jar? No, but it provides a handmade-like texture that I feel a clay jar would have!

Another option for custom quilting each block is to use the geometric lines of the block design to inspire your quilting. It can be as simple as following the seam lines, to more experimental such as creating secondary shapes and designs within the block.

Create a quilting plan

Once you’ve worked through those first three points when considering what to quilt, print off a picture or a diagram of your quilt and create a written (drawn?) plan of what you want to do. You might not know of the exact motifs you want to use for each block, but you can note that down on the paper while you’re squiggling in your plans for the background, sashing, and borders.

This not only helps your brain switch into gear when it comes time to free motion quilt your sampler quilt, but it also means that when you stop and take a break, you can easily remember what you need to do next. Taking breaks is a very important part of free motion quilting – stretch your arms and back, drink some water, go for a walk. It is quite a physical task, and it’s important to let your body rest throughout the process so that you don’t hurt yourself.

Hope Quilts Blog Hop

Sharing this quilt’s story is a part of the Hope Quilts blog hop hosted by Sarah from The Quilted Diary. She asked a few of us to share about special quilts that have helped us throughout 2020, so be sure to check out my fellow quilt designers’ hope quilts. As with mine, each one has a special story!