Scribble Drawing

Katie made an interesting comment on my blog a couple posts ago. She said she was uncomfortable with changing quilting midstream, as I did in my last finish. I mostly quilt all over designs, but her comment did make me think about why I was so comfortable mixing things up. I concluded it all goes back to my childhood activity of scribble drawings. 

As a child I loved to color, but I didn't always like the pictures in my coloring books. I also have no talent for drawing (proof of which is later in the post) Hence, my affinity for scribble drawings. There's probably a name for this, especially amongst Zentangle enthusiasts, but I don't know what it is. My childhood was long before the Zentangle fad. 

You start out by doing a large scribble on the page, making sure to cross over lines to make separate areas.

Then you color in each section a different color. I had two of my grandsons over yesterday, so they happily colored next to me. They both thought a drawing should look like something, so were a bit confused by my abstract design. This thing is, I did this a lot as a child, no rules drawing, I got to color, which I loved, and it didn't matter that I couldn't draw.

This applies to quilting HOW??? I'm going to make a confession. I have NEVER made a practice quilt sandwich. I mean it, NEVER. I may have a stash the size of Montana, but that doesn't mean I want to waste it practicing FMQ. Batting is getting more expensive all the time, and I piece scrap batting into larger pieces for quilts or smaller projects, I don't want to waste it either. I will practice a design on a sheet of paper or a white board, but if I'm going to FMQ, I'm going to do it on a real quilt. 

I saw a video years ago, and I wish I could find it now. I've looked for two weeks and I can't find. it. I'm pretty sure it was either a Leah Day video or Angela Walters. If you know what I'm talking about please post the link in the comments, and I'll edit this post to include it. 

Since I can't find the video, I'll walk you through the bullet points of what I remember, and how I've used that information personally. 

Let's suppose this sheet of paper is your quilt. You want to draw some random wavy lines across the quilt dividing the quilt into sections. If you are very new to FMQ, you can do this on a busy quilt because the quilting won't show much anyway. If you are a bit more confident, it looks fantastic on a quilt with a lot of negative space.

You can leave the lines as it, or if you want the divisions to be a bit more noticeable, you can add an echoing line that crosses your lines occasionally to give a twisted ribbon effect.

The video showed adding pebbles in the ribbon areas, and that is often called string of pearls quilting. This pic shows some lines just done as ribbons, and other done with the string of pearls. The first time I used this technique on a quilt was my first experience quilting string of pearls. 

This is what it looks like when all the lines are done. Here's the thing though, there are no rules for how you quilt your quilt. Let's say you did the wavy lines and tried the twisted ribbon idea on one line but you didn't like it. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!!! You don't have to rip it out, you don't have to do more, you can just stop at one. The page that only has half the lines having string of pearls doesn't look bad, it's just different. 

Here's an example of two lines being plain, and two lines having string of pearls. Not bad, just different.

Since I did all my lines with string of pearls, all the examples from here on out have that option. I found out I'm better at FMQ on a quilt than drawing with a marker, so please forgive my cruddy examples.

I like to start in a larger area with a pattern I'm comfortable quilting.

That top section is pretty large, so let's say I meander there.

The bottom left is really large, and I like quilting spirals, so let's put those there. 

Let's say I've got an ocean themed quilt top almost done, and I want to refresh my memory on how to quilt a watery pattern, add it to the mix.

I've quilted flames before, but it's been a while, so maybe quilt those in one of the sections. 

You are just taking one section at a time, quilting whatever you like in each area. I like to try new designs in smaller areas, that way it's not a huge commitment. 

There are no rules here, if you want to try a section of walking foot quilting, go for it! Did you buy a template at a quilt show but never had the guts to try ruler work? Go for it! 

This basic idea has so many variations! You can make more lines at the start to create more sections, or even just two lines and only use three designs. Even one line gives you an opportunity to do two designs. It's actually pretty freeing to plan on mixing designs from the beginning. By mixing designs you are comfortable with, with others you are new to, you can expand your skills without as much pressure as trying it on a whole quilt can be. You want to use this as an opportunity to compare quilting threads? Choose a different color for each section, or a different weight thread. Never tried 40 wt poly on a quilt, or 28 wt cotton? This is your chance to play. Since you are quilting different designs, you can use the same thread throughout to add some continuity, or just go crazy with variations. When you are done, instead of having a pile of practice quilt sandwiches, you'll have a finished quilt. 

The first quilt I did this on was a Legend of Zelda themed baby quilt. I just did two lines on the quilt, and quilted fire, water, wind gusts with clouds, and leaves to represent the elements in the four sections. The larger the quilt the more sections I'm going to divide it into. 

Now that I've said how I play with mixing quilt designs, I'm going to add this. If you like making practice quilt sandwiches, and you feel better having made them, continue doing so. If you think this idea would just look like a hot mess, it's probably not for you. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, my perfection quotient is not very high. I do enjoy FMQ, it gets more fun as my skills improve, but if I only meandered on every quilt from here on out, I'd still end up with a pile of finished quilts, which to me is preferable to a closet of quilt tops. Because I am such a prolific piecer, and piecing is my favorite part of quilting, I'll never be an expert at FMQ, and I am perfectly comfortable with that! My skills improve no matter which design I'm quilting just through experience. Do you know how many quilts I have had people refuse because they didn't like the quilting? ZERO

This is just my way of encouraging you to play, especially if you are feeling stuck at your skill level, or not motivated to finish a quilt. Sometimes a little play is just the ticket to get new ideas flowing!