Basket weave

When you are doing gridwork, there are two ways of setting up the grid.  One way is to sew the grid in and one is to make sure you fill the gridbox from line to line.  Keep that in mind when you are practicing these designs.  They are easy to do but look nicest when you do them neatly.

Now I want you to mark off a section of your one inch grid like this.  Putting slash marks in the boxes going in alternating directions is going to help you make a basket weave pattern.  You will sew back and forth filling up each block in the direction indicated.  Try to touch the lines with each pass.

This is what it looks like all sewn out.

Check the back to see what it would look like in a quilt.

Using some graph paper and a pencil, try to come up with some grid designs of your own.  I will share some suggestions in the next post.

Now I want you to draw a grid "on point."

Start by drawing a straight line at the top of your area.

Using the 45 degree angle on your ruler or your grid marker, draw lines one inch apart going one direction.

Then switch directions and draw in the lines one inch apart going the opposite direction.

This will give you a square grid "on point."

In the next few days I hope to figure out how to put a practice sheet of gridwork designs on here that you can print out for reference.  Practice on the straight squares and we will move on soon.  This is a fun way to fill in backgrounds with lovely texture.  Keep doodling!

Gridwork

Gridwork is free motion quilting done on a drawn grid.  All of my examples will be done on a 1 inch grid so you can see what I am doing.  For the background on a large quilt, one inch would be great.  For smaller areas you should use a 1/2 inch grid or even smaller for the courageous.  I draw my grids using a tool called a Grid Marker from June Tailor.  No, you do not need one--you can easily draw a grid using a ruler and marking pen.  I like the Grid Marker for ease.  You use it like the rotary cutting tool but with a marking pen.

Once you draw the lines one way, turn the Grid Marker/ Ruler the other direction and draw lines going the other direction.  (horizontal vs. vertical)

This is a straight one inch grid.  This is what we will start out with.

Mark an "X" in alternating squares to make a checkerboard.  This will help you as you stitch.

You will start in the lower left hand corner and just go back and forth horizontally filling in the marked square from line to line.  If you start at the bottom, you can move diagonally upward and to the right on a line.  I stitch around the outside edge to get to the next row to stitch.  This will give you a checkerboard design.  I have pink thread on the top and green thread on the bottom.  If you want to see what the design looks like--turn it over and look at the back.  That gives you the view without the marking.

I will be doing gridwork for a while so stay tuned as we do "on point" and diamonds, too.

I must explain--I apologize for the erratic stitching.  I am away from home and am stitching on my small "travel" sewing machine that does not cooperate as easily as my regular machine.  However, you get the idea.  The going back and forth does not have to be even and you can just "scribble" to fill in the square. The object is to make one block filled in and the next one left open.  That is what gives it the texture.  Give it a try.

Meet Tyler James.  This is the reason I am away from home.  Yes, I know--I just introduced you to Aiden.  We have been blessed to have 2 grandsons arrive 3 weeks apart.  Nana will be here another week before heading back home but we will continue to doodle.

Thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts!!

Note Of Interest

Today I am going to share a link with you.  The magazine "Quilting Arts" has a free ebook you can download.  It is all about playing with stitches and making a sampler of your playing for future reference.  I think you have to sign up for the web site but it is free.  I enjoy their morning newsletter just to see some color and fun projects first thing when I turn on the computer.  I downloaded the book and have now read through it.  These ladies know how to DOODLE!  Here is the link  http://www.quiltingarts.com/Fine-Sewing-Techniques/   Enjoy!

Do you know what gridwork is?  I think we will tackle some of that next.  It is an easy way to fill in the background of a quilt while adding an interesting texture.  It can be subtle or bold according to your thread choices but it is very EASY to stitch out.  Next post will be on gridwork.

Let's Stitch a Flower

This is the flower that we are going to stitch out.  I thought it was time to really play with some of the motions you have already learned.

 Notice that it is not any particular flower because the petals are all different shapes.  I did that on purpose so you could practice different types of petals to make whatever type of flower you want.  So let's get started.

First, draw two ovals on your practice piece.  One is smaller than the other and put the smaller one inside the large one and off center.  It looks like a fried egg.  These will be your registration marks to kind of give you the size and shape of your flower.  We are doing a flower that is "looking" up or to the side.  I am going to use 3 different color threads--brown, bright yellow, and light orange.

Start out with the brown--top and bobbin.  Pull up your bobbin thread to the top.

Free motion stitch around the smaller oval.

Fill in the small oval with "cobblestones"  Go around each cobblestone at least two times and sometimes more.  That gives the center more color and substance.

Fill in the entire small oval with brown cobblestones.

Change your thread color to yellow.  Start on the edge of your brown oval and start making petal shapes going around the center.  Keep in mind the direction the petal is growing from.  Make the petals all different shapes and make them wobbly.  There are pointed petals--rounded petals--heart shaped petals--funky shaped petals.

One side of the flower will have shorter petals than the other side.  That gives the flower that "looking" direction and makes it a bit more life like.  Go all the way around the center giving the flower petals.

Now--go around it again.  Go over the same shapes you already made in the same yellow thread.  Wobble some to give the petals some personality.  Going over the stitching more than once gives the shape prominence and makes it stand out.

On the second go around, add some small lines coming out from the center.  These lines remind me of watching an EKG monitor.  There is no rhyme or reason other than to give your flower more color and dimension to make it more realistic.

Change thread color to orange now.  Go around the petals and don't try to stay exactly on your previous stitching.  Add some background petals in between the main petals and add some more "EKG" stitching in the middle.

Now you can really begin to see your flower come to life!  Go around the flower again with the orange.  Please note how my stitching does NOT exactly follow the previous stitching lines.  I think it makes the flower more artistic and makes it more life like.  You can go around your flower adding color and detail lines as many times as you wish.  Stop when you are pleased with the image you have stitched.

Erase your blue guidelines.  You can either use a Clover "Erase" pen or take a damp paper towel and "erase" the blue lines.  See what you can do!  Awesome!!

I am teaching an advance class at Patchwork Place tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 13) from 10-4.  Please join us for some great quilting and fun ideas!  You can call 405-321-4569 for more information.

Had to share.  Here is Aiden, my beautiful, early bird grandson.  He is doing great!  Still in the NICU but should move out soon.

Still Here!

I apologize for the disappearing act.  I promised you posts from Houston.  I didn't make it to Houston.  I made it as far as Dallas.  At 4:00 in the morning came a text that said, "At hospital, doctor says baby is coming NOW."  That was enough to make me get turned around (sans Starbucks, which is very dangerous) and high tail it back to OK.  I am very happy to report that Aiden made his appearance at 5:16 am on Oct. 28, weighing in at 4 lbs. 15 oz. and 18 1/4 in. long even though he was 7 weeks early!  He came in kicking and screaming with major attitude.  Even though his stay at the NICU is not over, he is doing great!  Mom and the rest of the family are trying to find some normalcy and getting some rest now. Baby trumps Houston.  I will try to post some links to some of the other blogs which show pictures and information from the Houston show.  You can go to www.quilts.com to see the official pictures of the show.

In the meantime, I will get back to doodling in between NICU visits to see grandson, Aiden.  Thank you to everyone for all the good wishes and prayers.  They were/are felt and much appreciated.