Have the leaves started changing colors in your area yet? I don't think I've ever obsessed about the changing season as much as I have this year because I'm making the Leaf Peepers Quilt!

This modern leaf quilt is a terrific skill builder for many fun quilting techniques and best of all, I've been demoing every step of the process with my friend Sheri from WholeCircleStudio.com.

This week we are tackling the leaf blocks with two fun free motion quilting designs: Sharp Stippling and Paisley Shortcut.

Sharp Stippling is a super simple free motion quilting design based on traditional Stippling. To create this new designs, we’re simply adding sharp points, which creates a flame-like texture and a convenient place to pause while quilting.

Paisley Shortcut is a funky quilting design that's a bit of a cheat from traditional Paisley. Instead of stitching bouncy echoes that connect at the tip of the teardrop shape, Paisley Shortcut breaks the rules. This design instead bounce-echoes to create a very open, echoey design – perfect for the narrow spaces in the Leaf Peepers quilt blocks.

Don't forget, Sheri is quilting her Leaf Peepers Quilt entirely with walking foot quilting. If you're looking for a simpler way to quilt your quilt, check out her latest tutorial here.

Would you like to make a beautiful Leaf Peepers Quilt with the same fabrics I'm using? 

The Leaf Peepers Pat Quarter Pack includes: Island Batik Bermuda, Island Batik Leprechaun, Island Batik Cheddar, Island Batik Gold, Island Batik Lemonade, Island Batik Daffodil, Island Batik Nasturtium, Island Batik Cherry, and Island Batik Purple.

If you cut your fabrics carefully, you can make both the 40-inch Leaf Peepers wall hanging and 24 x 74-inch table runner quilts from this pack of 9 fat quarters!

​​​​​​​Click Here to pick up the Leaf Peepers fat quarter pack.

Tension issues are one of the most annoying things to deal with on any machine. Quilting on a longarm may require adjusting the tension more often than you are used to. 

When quilting on a longarm the most important thing to understand is that tension adjustment is going to be a regular thing. Unlike home machines that don’t often need tension changes, longarm machines will require small adjustments on a regular basis.