Doodle Quilting and Ruler Work


 I'd like to think that I work best with an imminent deadline, but if the truth were told I am a huge procrastinator. We had a wedding to go to last weekend and I stayed up late quilting up a quilted linen pillow for the happy couple. First I made some guide lines with my ruler and air erasable purple pen. Then the names and a few designs were drawn out.


Then I started stitching in the middle of the pillow, and worked my way out. I did this in a kind of Zentangle style. Have you tried Zentangling? It's a lot of fun and uses many quilting designs as well as many zentangle designs lend themselves to quilting.


 Linen can get off grain pretty easily, so I used spray baste to adhere it to the batting. When I spray baste, I use Sulky's KK2000, Temporary Spray Adhesive. It's safe to use indoors and no odor. It's temorary, lasting 2-5 days, though it comes undone with ironing too. I use it for fast and small projects. Even though this will be a pillow, I used a lightweight fabric for the backing of the quilting so there's plenty of texture and dimension.

quilting with rulers

 For the background around the main design, I used my handy-dandy ruler toe and did straight lines on a 45 degree angle about half an inch apart. The hardest part was making it line up (enough) when I got back to the beginning. It saved me from doing my usual 'quilt the heck out of it' routine and then taking forever because of the density.

 

 I promise I didn't misspell her name!

"Love" is written in letters about 1/2 inch high!


This was really a lot of fun! I love to write and doodle with my sewing. I changed direction of the straight lines at the center of the sides, top and bottom. This made a nice little chevron-y thing.


Love putting in little details!


And this tiny flower near the word, "Grow". I pray they will grow old together with much joy.

 
 The couple are a bit unconventional, so I thought something less traditional would be just the thing. I do hope they like it! After all the work, actually only 4 hours or so, it snowed and we couldn't go to the wedding.

I'm linking this article with Leah Day's FMQ Friday, go check it out for more free motion quilting fun!

5 comments:

  1. What a great "untraditional" way to express your love and support for this couple. I love how you filled the letters doodle-style and appreciate your detailed photos showing your process.

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  2. Could you explain more about using the ruler and "handy-dandy ruler toe"? Is this a special Janome foot?

    I have been checking out your blog and picked up a few tips from just a few minutes of reading.

    I just discovered Zentangles this winter and love doing them. they will soon be finding their way into my quilts.

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    1. Sorry I didn't get back to you right away. I am glad you found my blog useful. There's an earlier post, http://freemotionquiltingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/06/quilting-with-rulers-on-domestic-sewing.html (also on the sidebar) that should answer your questions. Thanks for asking!

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  3. Amy, Amy, Amy! This is beautiful! As impressive as this quilting is though, it is even more so, that you did all that ruler work on a DM! If I quilted all day ... every day ... for a year ... I couldn't catch up with your creativity! I'm sure they'll like it ... and if they don't pass it to me and we'll change our names!

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