Doodling Makes Me Happy

I am a doodler.  I have always been a doodler.  I have trouble sitting still in staff meetings.  So what do I do?  Draw quilt patterns!  Duh!  Here's some I was fooling around with during my last day of training.  YES, I was listening.  But I was also doodling....

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Curvy Crosshatching Variation

Today is an adventure in curvy crosshatching done freestyle.

Two weeks ago I started a simple quilt top to do some new free motion doodling on.  I often doodle on scrap fat quarter sandwiches, but this time I wanted something pretty to stitch on.  All these fabrics are gorgeous Island Batiks that are solid-looking from my Island Batik Ambassador boxes.

This quilt is for experimentation and fun and to try out new things I've never done before.  After all, that's what this blog is all about!  I've been doing Christa Watson's design wavy plaid where you stitch curvy lines back and forth and switch directions in points.  I love it because it covers space quickly and is easy to make looks good.  

BUT....this left me wondering what I could do with other lines....like S curves.  So I started with an s curve going across my square.

Then I echoed loosely back and forth along the shape not worrying about them being totally consistent in the width between the lines.

Next, I did an S curve connecting opposite corners.

And then loosely echoed that curve.

Here are the results!  I love the way it's curvy and fluid and it looks good even though it's NOT marked and it's NOT perfect.  That makes me sew happy!  It took me less than 10 minutes to stitch out so it was quick and it filled the space prettily too.  BONUS!

Here's a look from the back side.

My first adventure on this new doodle quilt was definitely a success.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Doodle Time!

Yesterday Lori Kennedy of the Inbox Jaunt posted about doodling and stitching Christmas trees.  I saw hers and had to do one.  And of course it had to have feathers!  I then gave myself permission to stitch the whole fat quarter with whatever came to my brain at the time.  It was so relaxing!

I did some random waves.

And some funky feathers.

And some ribbon/bubble work.

And a plant like looking thing.

And a spiral flowery thing.

And then I remembered a video Christa Watson did on her Wavy Plaid pattern so I had to try that too!
Such fun.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

What do I do with the Centers?

So I finally decided how to set my blocks as shown below.  Each dark rectangle has a flower in it. However, I decided I wanted to do something in the center squares to tie the flowers together.

So I started doodling ideas for how to connect those little dots on the flower blocks.  Reading The Inbox Jaunt's recent series about doodling really cemented the doodling process with me.

I then took the idea I liked the best and doodled this:

I really liked it, so I refined the center into this:

You can see that my original intent was to connect the dots.  However a friend suggested I turn the image like this:

This setting has an advantage.  It still gives the block connection, but I don't have to worry about connecting the dots exactly.  This is definitely still pretty and easier to construct.

So I sat down and cut out some pieces.  I figured that it would be simplest to use a whole rainbow of fabrics with dark gray underneath like so:

Here are the pieces cut out as I had originally planned.  It's overwhelming to my eyes.  They don't know where to look.  I was so disappointed that it wasn't going to work!

In this picture I tried rearranging the pieces to see if I liked it any better.  No such luck.

What if I took off the dots and moved where the pieces connected?  Nope, I still don't like it and it still feels like too much.  I even tried laying a black and white fabric in the center and that didn't work either.  I was getting very frustrated.

What if I simplified it and only used gray and one print?  It was getting better.  The dark gray definitely works.  Still, it wasn't great.

I love this pattern.  Except the thought of doing the double blanket-stitch and having it still look symmetrical.  There was no way it was going to be easy.  I must admit that I am a perfectionist and wanted it to turn out nicely, so I kept going.  I cut a snowflake-like shape out of paper:

I love it!  The one piece really draws the four flowers together without being overwhelming!

But...I have learned to try all the possibilities before starting, so I rotated it 45 degrees. I like this even better because it looks like the flowers are growing out of the stems.  I decided to go ahead and simply use the dark gray to make the shape.  Here are the finished blocks ready to have the extra pieces cut and be sewn together:

This girl is a happy camper! :)

Suzy