Good Morning, Quilters and Doodlers!
Every Thursday is doodle day! Get your pencils and paper ready, so when a busy weekend hits, you’ll still feel like you’re quilting!
I am currently working on a queen size Double Wedding Ring quilt.
(I will be showing lots of images of this quilt as I demonstrate how to design and stitch “The Big Quilt”.)
PLAN WHILE YOU PIECE
As you are piecing, think about how you want to design the free motion quilting.
This allows plenty of time for the ideas to percolate…
–and hopefully, by the time the last border is stitched in place, you’ll be excited about the quilting phase!
For the Double Wedding Ring Quilt
I plan to do minimal stitching on the rings and a fun design in the center of the rings.
I copied this shape–it is the odd shaped center from a Double Wedding Ring–
and then traced the shape onto several pages in my sketch pad…
Whenever I had free time, or a new idea, I doodled the possibilities.
I used the motif library: Free Motion Quilt tutorial Page and tried a variety of different ideas…
Some motifs work better than others…
I like Grid Pop in the center along with The Easiest Flower Ever.
I also like this version of The Easiest Flower Ever.
I never settle on one motif until I try a wide variety of options.
Here’s The Bow:And the Fleur-de Lis
Once I settle on a few motifs, there’s still more planning to do…like stitch order and thread, etc…but there’s still plenty of time!
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
- Pick a quilt top you’d like to finish and start planning the quilting.
- Trace the shape of one of the blocks–or a part of a block. (Avoid thinking about THE WHOLE QUILT–let’s just bite off one small piece at a time—Think of it as “Divide and Conquer”–sound familiar???)
- Make several copies of the shape or trace them into your sketchbook.
- Search for a few motifs you think would work.
- Get doodling! Try as many combinations as possible…
- It is best to do this over several sessions–it’s surprising how one idea will lead to another especially when you give your subconscious creative brain time to work.
Have fun with this. If one block doesn’t inspire you right now, try a border or a sashing.
ONE MORE THING…
Several months ago, I started this process with the question “Can you teach someone to doodle?”…
We are now 15 lessons into this experiment and I’d love to hear how this is going for everyone. Have the Doodle Lessons helped? Should we continue? Which lessons have been the most useful? Any other comments/questions?
LOVE TO HEAR!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!