Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop (Friday Foto Fun #72)
Happy Friday! BeaQuilter has been hosting the Dust Off a Quilt Book blog hop all week and today is my turn to share!
The concept is to take one of the many quilt books that we all have and dust it off. Make a project from the book! The book that I chose was the 180 Doodle Quilting Designs! I have so many free motion quilting books and I am still terrible at it because I don't practice!
I took a couple of the designs and practiced sketching the doodles over and over again. Here are two of the many pages that I've sketched! I think I ended up with over 20 pages of doodles!
I got better and better the more I doodled! I can definitely see how doodling helps your free motion skills.
Next, I attempted to free motion a couple of designs I had practiced doodling. I used the blue thread with my Bernina with a stitch regulator. I decided to set up my Juki to free motion quilt and that's the one on the bottom with white thread.
It's really nice to remember that when your quilting thread blends in, the flaws are less noticeable. However, I did learn that I need guidelines so my motifs don't shrink or expand in size! Click on the photo above to see the details of my quilting!
Have you ever tried doodling to get better at Free Motion Quilting?
Be sure to check out all the other great bloggers in this blog hop!
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I have doodled a tad bit, I have this same book- I must get it out again for some refreshments!
I doodle new motifs before stitching them. It certainly does help. Good luck with your doodling and quilting.
Looks great….I use to doodle in church while listening….I have found if I have something to occupy my hands my brain can listen…strange huh?
great book, I’ve had my eye on that book before, but haven’t bought it. Keep practicing
I have tried doodling to improve my free motion. I find that (for me) it only helps to learn new designs. Drawing it over and over causes me to degrade the more I do. (but, like Barb, I listen better if my hands are busy.)
Isn’t it interesting how people’s minds work differently?
I like your quilting. That’s the area I need to work on the most. I probably should do more doodling too. Have a lovely day.
I’ve been so tempted to order that book. I do need to just practice doodling and then try it on a sample piece. It looks like it works for you!
I tend to doodle a lot, and it is good practice for free motion quilting. I even doodled directly on a quilt and it was quite fun!
Great choice of a book – it sits on my shelf too!
how fun. no i have not doodled yet. right now i am learning applique. i figured i had better start learning one thing at a time, even though it is tempting to learn many things at once. have a wonderful weekend.
What a good choice for Bea’s Blog Hop!! I, too, tend to forget all about those design books. Thanks for the reminder that practice makes better!
Really neat! Enjoy your weekend! 🙂 🙂 angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom
I love to doodle quilting patterns! When a design idea hits, no paper is safe!!
Great idea, I need to do more of this. I usually practice before I start quilting on something
That is such a good idea, I just don’t take the time to doodle.
Like you my problem has always been practice or lack there of. The few times I have attempted FMQ I did find that doodling helped a lot. I just didn’t put in the time.
Doodling definitely helps! Your fmq is looking good 🙂 Keep practicing!
What a great book to pull off the shelf! I’m not sure that doodling helps me that much. I am very, very right handed and quilting is dual handed. I have fibromyalgia and I’ve had chemo – each have a brain fog component to them and I have to stop to think about somethings so my brain doesn’t lend itself to a continuous motion any more. I think I would do better marking the pattern in some way unfortunately. That takes much longer and then there is an element of getting rid of the markings usually or in the case of using a hera marker – the markings aren’t “permanent” and don’t last long. I’m glad that you brought this to the forefront. I tend to not think about it and if I would practice it might help my brain heal, too.
Hi Sherry, well done! It really is amazing what practicing with doodling will do for your FMQ. They look great – and yes, having guide lines help if you’re trying to stay in a line. However, you can just move around so that no one knows that it’s a line 🙂