Have you been looking for a moment of longarm quilting zen? You’ve found it with my latest free motion quilting tutorial for APQS.

In this APQS video tutorial you’ll learn how to quilt the Lotus Lollipop border design. This is a big floral design that’s perfect for quilting your extra large borders! Watch the video below to see how to quilt it.

How to Quilt the Lotus Lollipop Border

You’ll definitely want to save this design for your borders. Start at the bottom of your border with a hump for the center of your flower. Now quilt your lotus flower petals. These petals have pointy tips and they’ll radiate out from and around that central circle.

Now it’s time for the lollipop portion of our lotus lollipop border! Echo back around the lotus petals you’ve just quilted. When get to the V between petals, quilt a little lollipop tree. These are just straight lines out with a circle on top. Continue quilting echoes and lollipop trees all the way around the lotus flower.

When you’re all the way around your flower and back at your seam, you can travel in the ditch to start your next lotus flower. Remember to travel far enough down the seam that you have room for your next lotus flower. You might find it helpful to evenly divide your border so that all your lotus lollipop flowers are roughly the same size.

Turning the Corner

There are all kinds of design options for turning the lotus lollipop design around a corner. But before we get to that, your first step should be to mark you miter with a fabric marker or chalk pencil. This well help so much for keeping your design symmetrical as you quilt.

If you have room, you could quilt a lotus flower in the corner. Instead of quilting a half circle at the center, you’d quilt a three-quarter circle around the corner. It would look a little like a Pac Man with his mouth wide open! I didn’t have much room left when I quilted this design. So I added a fun lollipop tree along the miter. I stacked a couple of rows of lollipops and ended with a leaf at the top. I backtracked along the stem and began quilting lotus lollipops again!

Now It’s Your Turn!

Now that you know how to quilt the lotus lollipop border, it’s your turn to give it a try! I would love to see your version of this design. You can share pictures of your quilts with me at the Quilted Joy Facebook page, tag me on Instagram, or join the community in the Quilted Joy Clubhouse!

If you would like to explore more tips and tricks for machine quilting, don’t miss the Quilted Joy Learning Center