Doodling Trees and Designing a Quilt Block
Good Morning, Quilters and Doodlers! (and maybe a few Zentanglers!)
I hope you had fun doodling Christmas trees last week. Trees are a simple design and can be decorated in so many ways.
This week, let’s combine the trees in compositions to create either a quilt block or a whole cloth doodle quilt!
The easiest composition is one central motif with a background.
Choose one motif to fill in the tree and one for the background. Add a third motif in the foreground for more depth.
Try a few gumdrops for brain fuel…I think peppermint is supposed to make one smarter? (The things that make one more creative aren’t very healthy!)
Create a horizontal composition by doodling a row of trees and several rows of other motifs.
Another one of my favorite compositions is the radiating composition.
Place the trees along the diagonal and straight axes. Fill in with a background motif or leave the background plain.
The most complex looking is the overlapping horizontal composition.
It looks complicated, but it is easy!
First add the lowest row of trees.
Add a wavy line that connects just below the tip of each tree.
Draw the second row of trees on that line.
Repeat with as many rows as needed to fill the page.
We’ve had so much peppermint by now–it was a breeze, right!?
Once you have the basic composition doodled, decorate the trees and the background.
How whimsical! (and easy!)Add more gumdrops and peppermint sticks to keep the ideas flowing…
When you run out of candy…well, the gig is up!
So either buy a big bag of gumdrops or chew slowly!
Remember, if you have fun when you’re quilting, your quilts will be fun!
I’ve got to go for a walk…
Your candy hound quilter,
Lori
If you like these motifs and tips, be sure to check out my book, Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 or any of my Craftsy Videos!
(My Craftsy video: Divide and Conquer-Creative Quilting for Any Space includes several compositional styles and examples of quilts in each style.)
PPS…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!
Lori, these are adorable and happy little images. I will try them on my machine today.
I have a great set up in the dining room now (hahahaha) I separated my mother in laws beautiful walnut table and did not put in the extra leave. I put a wooden file cabinet underneath and set my White mechanical on top. Then I did some super amazing jigsawing and made a piece of board to go over the machine to make the surface smooth. I have been making sandwiches with left over pieces of old fabric and batting bits.
My life is nuts busy but I am aiming to fit it all in, a little at a time
Thank you for your wonderful encouragement
Your table sounds amazing! Little. By. little!
What a fantastic, innovative way to make a custom sewing table! Brilliant!
Another woman who can operate a jigsaw … a kindred spirit! Purchased during my “wooden folk art period” I now use ours to create quilting template pieces for blocks I intend to make over and over, from acrylic sheeting available at Home Depot. That way you can use a small rotary cutter to cut fabrics rather than having to draw around them and cut with scissors.
This is a great idea. I went to Dollar Tree and bought a package of the plastic cutting mats, I traced my quilt templates from my quilt book. Cut them out and you have permanent templates to use over and over again.
Joni
Great idea!! Thank you!
LOL I love gumdrops!
Will be doodling away on trees and pathways to see what I can come up with! Thank you again for the inspiration you provide! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Sew much inspiration and sew little time. I only hope I will be more prepared next year! Just love all ideas.
Great post, Lori! Really fun to see your creativity! Inspiring!
Hello everyone. My name is Kellie and I was wondering if I could get some advice and/or suggestions on a quilt that I am planning on starting after Christmas? I’m a confident beginner quilter and I’m a horse crazy gal. Lol. I have loads of horse fabric but I have not been able to think of a pattern for my quilt. I have 2 or 3 panels but I was not planning on putting all of them on one quilt. I have fleece horse fabric for the backing but I need some help on doing the top of the quilt. I would very much appreciate any advice or suggestions that I could get from any of y’all. Thank you so much in advance. Kellie.
Hi Kellie, I made a couple of horse quilts and the way I quilted them was to outline quilt the main horse in each block and then meander the background of the block in a shell or flower or any meander you like to do, this makes the main horse pop!