Quilt Doodling

There's been a whole lotta doodling going on these days.  No, this is not another attempt to procrastinate quilting all the quilt tops in my queue.  Its to help me design some fun FMQ motifs to add another layer of interest to those quilt tops.  Rather than waste lots of paper drafting up ideas, I've found some reusable surfaces to doodle away...

System 1:  Sheet Protectors

Ready to Doodle Quilt Designs

I recreated the block on paper in black and white using sharpie marker.  Since the block was already partially quilted with figure 8s, I added these on the paper version to see how the doodles would complement them.  Once complete, I slipped my paper block into a sheet protector and went to work doodling up fun designs using fine tipped white board markers.  To help me remember the various draft designs, I would take a picture of each before erasing it.

Doodle Designs for Black Opals and Ribbon Candy Cool Version

Once I settled on a final design, I was able to remove the paper block and do a final audition by placing the sheet protector with design over the actual quilt.

Final Audition of Design Over Actual Quilt

Quilted Block

I had to recreate a new block for the warm version of the same quilt as I hadn't started any quilting in these blocks.

Doodle Designs for the Warm Black Opals and Ribbon Candy blocks

Final Audition

I used my sheet protector system for another old UFO--my Rainbow Vs.

Rainbow V doodles

System 2:  Plexiglass

Plexiglass with Blue Painter's tape

I have since upgraded my doodling system to a larger piece of Plexiglass, which can accommodate larger blocks and borders.  I placed blue painter's tape along each edge to create a lip to prevent my doodles from running off the edge onto the actual quilt.  I can also use blue painter's tape to mark out inner borders rather than keep drawing them with white board markers.  

Stay tuned as I finish up quilting all these doodles and post more pictures of the finished quilts soon!