Sketch Book......Background Fillers 1

When trying out different filler designs,

I partition the sketch book...

6 sections seems to work best for me:

Rather than fill up an entire page in the book with 1 design,

I can experiment with 6 different designs on one page.

Filler designs can be time consuming to draw out 

1 design on a full page.

6 designs on a page is much more appealing to me.

It is enough space to let me know if the design

is working or not.

When I am experimenting with new designs,

I draw them out as if I had the piece under

the needle quilting it...

keeping my pen down on the paper, moving it as

if it were a needle and thread on the machine.

I never know what will work until I try it out in the sketch book.

The yearling heifers keep me company just outside

the Thread Shed.

The hydrangeas are putting on a show this time of year!

The flower beds are just illuminated with their beauty.

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Brought to YOU By:

Gunnr and his Blue Ball

Sketch Book.....Border Designs

Here are a few border designs

in one of my Sketch Books...

As you can see from the diagram on the left page,

these are a series of shapes that look like 

question marks

I would chalk out the question mark shapes 

on my fabric,

then put it under the needle and stitch plumes 

along the question marks.

This is the same design, 

just a horizontal orientation.

This can be stitched out to fit most any size border.

 This is a simpler version of the designs above:

Here are 4 different border designs.

A good choice for narrow borders.

 This little chicken family lives just down the road:

They were scratchin' out a living in the grass 

along side the road...

The rooster is a real beauty!

He is so vibrant.

Sweet Birds.

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CLICK HERE to view:  Borders on Baby Quilt

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CLICK HERE to view: Fern Quilting on Calypso Quilt

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Brought to YOU By:

Gunnr and The Blue Ball

Sketch Book.....Background Fills

Free Motion Quilting

Background Fill Designs:

I draw random horizontal wavy lines across the page...

Then fill each area in with a different design.

These work great for background areas on your quilt

that you need to fill in and press that area down with stitching.

Adds a lot of texture.

You can also draw horizontal straight lines across the page:

Try out different shapes.....you never know if they will work

unless you try them out on paper.

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn Kessi

Brought to you By:

Gunnr and The Blue Ball

Sketch Book......Cobblestones Motif

Free Motion Quilting INSPIRATION can come from

anywhere...

This is an image of a batik fabric:

As soon as I saw this, it screamed to be sketched out

as a future quilting motif...

 This is my first attempt at drawing it out:

I started by drawing random wavy lines.

Then filled in each section with cobblestones.

Give it a try!

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CLICK  HERE to view: Bubbles and Blooms Quilting

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Brought to YOU By:

Gunnr and The Blue Ball

Sketch Book.....Spines with Curls & Plumes

Here is a curvy spine with 

curls and plumes added to it:

I drew out the very curvy spine.

Then added the big curls.

Then decided to add plumes between the curls.

Note:  I make a note to keep spine curvy, not too straight.

In the next image you can see how I worked out

this design as I went along:

I highlighted the steps 1 to 4

(they aren't in order, but you get the idea)

I worked my way drawing out this design until it

looked they way I wanted it to.

I would chalk out the spine and big curves.

Then go in and begin the quilting on the machine.

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CLICK HERE to view: Quilting the Feeling Groovy Quilt

CLICK HERE to view: My favorite marking chalk

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn Kessi

Brought to You By:

Gunnr and The Blue Ball

Sketch Book.....more Plume Designs

Here are a couple more plume designs:

This time the spine is upside down.

Left Page.......Spine with extra curl on left side

Right Page.....Plumes added to spine

You can draw out long spines or short spines.

 This design is just curves that create

the impression of a spine:

Draw out curves, alternating their direction.

They create a spine to add the plumes to.

Left Page.....curves

Right Page.....plumes added to curves

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 May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn Kessi

Gunnr got Blue Ball

Sketch Book.....more Spine Designs

More designs created from a curvy Spine:

This is a basic curvy spine, 

but I have added an extra curve 

on the bottom right side of the spine.

Left Page......Curvy Spine w/extra curve at bottom

Right Page.....Plumes added to Spine

This spine has 2 extra curves added to it:

Left Page....curvy spine with extra curve on each side

Right Page.....Plumes added to spine

This is basically the same design as above:

I have drawn the plumes longer and wider...

the bigger plumes take up more space.

 Again, this is the same design as above:

The plumes are much longer and take up more room.

Again, the design is the same as above:

The plumes here are drawn out to fill space...

They take up all available space!

You can do most anything you want with

this basic spine design...

Grab a pad and start drawing...

You will learn as you go.

p.s.  when I am working on fabric, 

the spine line is drawn out in chalk.  

It gives me a guideline to stitch on.

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May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn Kessi

Brought to you by 

Gunnr & The Blue Ball