I'd like to briefly take you back to the days before Longarm League started to show you where the seed for this edge-to-edge design began to germinate.

I was providing computerized edge-to-edge quilting for clients, and my friend Jessica Plunkett brought me this quilt she'd made using the Mod Owls quilt pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful. 

I'd recently purchased my design software called Art and Stitch, and I was eager to use it. I was inspired by the curves of the patchwork and the cross-section of the owls' bodies, and I let that guide me as I created a bespoke design for Jessica.

Luckily, she let me go for it! It's a one-of-a-kind quilting job, that's for sure! 



The stitch path of the original design was a bit messy, but that makes sense, since I was only about a month into having the software and didn't have much experience under my belt. Long stretches of line got double-stitched.



The original design featured sets of parallel lines traveling at opposing angles. I really l...

This design is coming in hot off a hand-drawn sketch. It's been a while since I've done that. I got my longarm loaded up with a muslin backing, pieced my own frankenbatting together, and then I pulled out my iPad and started sketching in an app instead of free-motion quilting at my machine, which was the original plan.

It has been SO long since I've "doodled" with my longarm. I still think that modality could be a good change of pace to get the creativity flowing. Hey, it was a solid attempt! Maybe next time I'll follow through.



The main thought behind this design was that I wanted a mix of straight lines and curves within the same amorphous shapes. Circle gets a square; triangle gets a curve. Each lil cluster had to have a mix of both.



Again, while I didn't actually hand-guide this design with my longarm, I wanted it to look like it could be free-motion quilting. I like the imperfection of the quirky shapes; I like how the repeats are not obvious. I like the spacing and the ...