Freehand Flowers and Leaves

This is another from my piecing marathon, Flowers.

The piecing on this is incredibly simple, as I wanted the quilting to bring out the flower shapes.  In retrospect, snowball blocks would have worked great for the flowers.

Each color has a different design, all done freehand.  

The pink ones are my favorite!

In the print fabric are some freehand leaves, and here's a tutorial on stitching those.

Starting at one edge, stitch a curved line for the stem and vein of the leaf.

Following the red arrows, stitch back along the vein, and form a half heart, creating one side of the leaf.

Stitch a half heart down on the other side, completing the leaf.  From there, stitch another stem and vein for another leaf.

Repeat the heart formation for one leaf side.  Notice here that I started the leaf on the left side this time, and finished on the right.

That way, after the whole leaf is stitched, I can easily continue into the open space, and haven't boxed myself in.  A lot of learning to freehand is to anticipate where the stitching is going.

Continue stitching stem, vein, and the two lobes of the leaf.

Vary the direction of the leaves to fill the space.

And the border is simple e's and l's.  This is definitely an easy, fun quilt!

Happy Quilting!