Get Started Doodling-Scallops

Today’s Topic:  Get Started Doodling Scallops

Welcome to Week One of The Better Machine Quilt-a-long based on my books  25 Days to Better Machine Quilting,

Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 and MORE Free Motion 1-2-3

Find all of the previous Lessons HERE.

Sign up for emails of the class HERE.

Join the private Quilting with LKQ Facebook Group HERE

Good Morning, Quilters!

Welcome back to our Machine Quilting QAL, Season 2, Episode 3….

(Seriously, can someone come up with a better name for our QAL this year? )

Building Blocks

As we discussed earlier this week, many people fear machine quilting.

They struggle to move the quilt under the moving needle to create a beautiful design.  (Geez when you say it like that, who wouldn’t have performance anxiety!?)

Often, the real problem is they haven’t started with the foundational exercises.

You don’t expect a baby to run before she crawls!  And you shouldn’t expect to be able to stitch a pretty flower if you can’t doodle one!

Doodling is Foundational

Before you can quilt a smooth stitching line in a complex pattern, you must be able to doodle the line on paper!

And before you can doodle a complex line on paper, you need to be able to doodle a simple line on paper.

That is why and where we begin today!

Doodling Scallops

We will get started doodling scallops.

Scallops are easy and are the components of many really fun motifs.

In your notebook:

Start with a row of simple scallops

Add a row of double scallops–think echo stitching!

What happens if you add a short dash in between each?

Triple scallops?

Upside down scallops!

Rows of elongated scallops!

Challenge yourself to fill rows and rows and pages and pages with scallop variations.  Add other shapes like squares, circles and lines to the scallops.

Place a star by any you’d like to stitch.

Lined Notebook

There are many ways to doodle.  To begin, I’d recommend a lined notebook.  There are so many pretty variations.  Treat yourself to a fun notebook that’s not too precious to fill with doodles. Our goal is to fill the whole notebook.

While you’re shopping, buy yourself two or three notebooks.

And for a real indulgence, consider these Blackwing Matte pencils. They have a cult following among artists and writers for a reason!

The more you doodle, the better your quilting will be–promise!

Repeat the Process Every Day

Repeating the same doodles over and over again is an important part of the process.  Over time, the repetition leads to smoother doodles (and quilting) and your brain starts making connections…

We will add a doodle lesson every week.  The important thing is that YOU begin a doodling habit–and then,

Pretty soon a simple scallop becomes a HUGE flower or a fish, or…..

What about YOU?

Do YOU doodle every day?

Has doodling improved YOUR quilting?

Can YOU think of a new QAL title?

We’d LOVE to hear!

YOUR Doyenne of Doodles,

Loodle Lori

PS…You might enjoy my Lucky the Dog tutorial over at BERNINA’s We All Sew—just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!

 

 

PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only.  Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ.  For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com.  Thank you!

Visit my Etsy shop: LoriKennedyShop for all of my books!  They are ALL bestsellers!

14 responses to “Get Started Doodling-Scallops”

  1. Are there two QALs happening right now? Or is this possibly a typo that it’s part of week 1 even though the article says week 9?

  4. BBQ, BECOME BETTER QUILTERS. We will with your guidance and our persistence. Thanks Lori for repeating this, I got behind after we got the storms in Iowa last year.

  5. Deep Learning with Lori.

    My doodling definitely improves my quilting! Usually the first two-three times I repeat a design on a quilt are only “hide” worthy. After doodling, the designs look decent, even at the start.

  6. I’m confused, too. Assuming you’re doing a little change in the order of doing things this time, but forgot to change the email wording to reflect that it’s only week one of this tutorial.

      1. How many weeks will there be? Is this an actual repeat of the previous 25 week QAL, or is it a shorter version of that QAL?

  10. Machine Quilting Basic Training
    Machine Quilting Boot Camp
    Machine Quilting Therapy
    Fearless Free Motion Quilting

  11. Thanks so much for repeating your quilt along. I will try harder to stay with you this time. I know I’ll be happy I did !!

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