Hey Everyone, welcome back to Free Motion Friday.

Since Christmas is only 12 sleeps away and I know that some of you are not finished those Christmas projects I thought I would help you out with a quilting motif for that special project you are working on.

The free motion motif this week is holly leaves with berries as an all over design. Although it could be used as a stand alone design as well.

This one is a bit more involved than the meandering triangles from last week. I’ll break it down into a few easy steps.

A good idea before starting is to draw the holly with a pencil on paper before starting to get your mind around which way the curves go in the leaves. If you want to do it as a large stand alone motif then the leaves could be drawn onto the fabric with a marking pencil prior to stitching and all you have to do is follow the lines.

Step 1

Starting at the bottom of the leaf stitch up one side and down the other. The curves in the leaves are concave which means they go in towards the centre of the leaf. Return to where you started and stop with needle in the down position.

Stitch the first leaf starting at the bottom of the leaf

Step 2

Pivot slightly and stitch the second leaf returning to where the stitching started.

Continue to the second leaf following the arrows

Step 3

The third leaf is made the same way as the other two. Once done with this leaf then pull the needle out and tie off the threads.

Add the third leaf following the arrows

Step 4

To make the berries start by making a small circle where the leaves meet in the centre. To fill in the circle just keep going around in circles in the middle of the original circle until it is filled in. Move over slightly and make a second berry then a third. Stop and tie off the threads.

Change thread and stitch in the berries

Step 5

Add a vein to each leaf if you wish – this can be added before the berries if you prefer but the vein will have to be a double line in order to return to the bottom of the leaf and continue on with the other leaves.

Stitch veins in each leaf individually

Adding the berries in a different colour of thread really makes the design pop.

Close up of holly and berries

Happy Quilting!