Random Squares

We've been doing the

"bouncing" 

designs so far.

I'm ready for 

a change...

are you?

Let's be square!

HAHAHA!

We are making squares today!

Take one of the sections
of your fabric,

Draw a line down the middle to divide it in 2.

Now,

draw a few vertical straight lines through one section of the 2.

And draw a few horizontal lines through the same section.

These are simply guides for you so you can keep your lines straight

as you quilt the squares.

(Nifty trick, huh?)

Here's what we're doing...

This is a "form" of stippling ISH!

Everything is just straight lines,

and squares.

Here's the stitch out of it...

Cool, huh?

As I was quilting all those squares,

the few lines drawn in the space REALLY helped things to stay straight.

The blue lines are a water soluble marker...

they disappear with water!!!

So,

LET'S GET THOSE LINES OUT!!!

TA-DA!!!

And nobody has to know we had those helping lines in there!

Gotta LOVE it!!!

Stitch those pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

Nina

Crazy Quilt Villain

This is simply

TOO GOOD

NOT TO 

SHARE!!!!

So,

our daughter is engaged to be married...

her fiance is 

totally 

into video games and comic books!

He sent me 

a picture today of a

Batman comic book villain 

from 1940!

Crazy Quilt!

Gotta love that skirt!

Anybody remember him?

What kind of villain was he?

Good, I hope!

Then...

YES, it gets better!

He sends me a picture 

of a 2006 

Crazy Quilt!

He couldn't find a full picture of her...

Hmmm...

I don't think I want to see a full figure of her!

I'm taking a wild guess

in saying...

I'm pretty sure a

MAN

developed her!

Hmmm...

You think?

But,

I LOVE the

Crazy Quilt villains!

Let's keep being villains!!!

BLAHAHAHA!!!

HAD TO SHARE!!!

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Inspiration continued...

Well...

did you draw a design

from the inspiration photo?

Let's be honest...

you can go in several directions

from the inspirational photo!

And,

actually...

I DID go in

several directions!

This is where 

mine ended...

I really want to stitch this out!

Wouldn't this be a 

FUN design to 

quilt as an 

all over design!?!?

Spirals are SO FUN!

Play with any inspiration

you find...it's 

EVERYWHERE!!!

You'll be 

amazed with 

what you come up with!!!

Have fun!!!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Inspiration...

Inspiration 

is everywhere!

Take pictures!

(They're easy to delete if you don't like it!)

There have been many times

I didn't

take a picture...

and later wished I had!

So,
 take pictures!

I was out of town last week...

guess where 

 inspiration came from?

THE HOTEL CARPET!

Hotel carpet can be a bit

garish.

But look at it

a little different next time.

Ask yourself,

"Could I create a free motion design from this?"

If you think so,

or even if you like it,

take a picture!

Then sit and play with it a bit.

Your free motion design

may not be exactly

like your picture,

and that's

OK!

You used your inspirational

photo for just that...

INSPIRATION!

Here is an example:

This is pretty with the leaves and flowers.

There is a pantagraph

for longarmers 

something like this.

But,

I'm a domestic machine girl!

Here's my drawing:

This could be an 

all over design very easily!

The long leaves will fill in the spaces!

The flowers can be as big or little as you want.

They can also be as abundant as you want!

here's a challenge for you... 

Come up with a design for the boarder of this carpet!

I'd really LOVE

to see what you come up with!

Post them please!

(I'll share that mine doesn't look much like 

the picture...)

Remember...

There's NO wrong way!!!

It's only your interpretation!  

Have fun!!!

Sew the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Wavy Channels

Here's our next design...

Wavy Channels!

Yes,

it's like the 

Channels,

but wavy!

This is an

AMAZING textural design!

Use this in the

background,

but try to use it when you have 

a big background area.

You'll

LOVE the texture

you'll create!!!

So,
here you go...

draw this out 

until you have a rhythm going.

Creating a muscle memory is 

very important!

Now,

let's stitch it out...

Isn't this gorgeous!!!

You can keep it 

totally wiggly,

(more than the sample),

or not so much.

The look will be 

different

and each will be

beautiful!

Where does inspiration come from?

We'll be talking 

a bit about that

next...

Inspiration is

EVERYWHERE!!!!

Take pictures!!!

Draw your interpretation.

Quilt it!

Fun!

Fun!!!

FUN!!!!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

Nina Clotfelter

I just HAVE to share...

Talk about taking time to have

a little 

FUN!!!

Oh my...

I needed to do a little 

FUN

something!!!

I have a friend visiting for a few days...

She brought a 

little project for us to do!

PAPER PIECING!!!

LOVE IT!!!

How cute is this?!

So,

we copied the pattern...

went shopping...

(in my stash!)

got sewing!

We had this done in just a few short hours!

We BOTH

liked this Batik for our background...

we both liked the orange...

but I had to change mine...

to PINK! 

Same fabric!

Different color solid...

they look so different!

Here is my friend's with the boarders!

SO PRETTY!!!

Here is mine with the boarders!

Same pattern!

Same background fabric!

Same FUN!

GO HAVE SOME 

FUN

THIS WEEK!!!!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina

Channels

Sorry for my absence...

I've been teaching for several days.

Here is our next design...

Channels.

This is a super 

FUN

design!

Channels

creates a LOT of texture!

This is a great background filler,

or for a specific section of your quilt.

The turning might take a few drawings,

but if you keep one side going into the same point,

as the other side keeps moving around,

it creates a

curve!

You can do it!

And here it is stitched out.

This is stitched out in a variegated thread,

and it shows up,

has dimension,

and adds loads of texture!

If you quilted this in a matching thread,

ALL

you see is the texture.

IT'S GORGEOUS!!!!

Channels fills up every inch of space.

This is a relaxing design to quilt...

you just get into a groove with it.

you can put as much

curve 

into it as you want,

or as much 

straight

as you want to it.

It's been stitched in a 

small scale as well,

and looks great!

Have FUN with this one!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!

Nina Clotfelter 

Leaves!

Leaves,

Leaves,

Leaves!

This is another great

background filler.

These can be quilted

large,

medium,

small,

or any combination of!

The sample here shows a 

large section,

and a 

small section.

Let's laugh at ourselves a little bit...

(you can't take yourself too seriously!).

This sample is from my first sample book,

I made this into a fabric book using large rings and eyelets.

(This is just easier to pack as I travel and teach!)

You can see, 

I put my eyelets on the bottom of several pages 

before I realized it...

LOL!!!

The sample is still good,

it just has a little decoration!

We are NOT perfect beings!

It's ok!

For this page,

divide your page into 2 sections.

On one side you'll quilt

Large leaves,

On the other side you'll quilt

Small leaves.

YES!

The movement of this design is similar to the 

Clams

we've just completed

8 samples of!

Yet,

the design is so different!

Here are the instructions...

As you can see...

sometimes when you draw something out,

it's not exactly how it gets

stitched out.

That's ok!

Remember,

the drawing is only to create

a muscle memory

for when you quilt it.

Stay dry today...

Living in the rainiest city 

is VERY wet!

(And it's raining EVERY day!!!)

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter

Curly Clam...so cool!

These Curly Clams

are almost as pretty as the 

Feather Clam..

ALMOST!

(I LOVE Feathers!)

So,

Here is a sample of the 

Curly Clam

stitched out

This is done in a variegated thread...

Isn't it FUN?!

Here are instruction...

Now, let me add a tip!

Look at #3...

notice how the clam ended on the left side.

This is where you start your curls.

Notice the direction the curls go in...

When you end on the left side of you clam before you start the curls,

your curls will curl to the left.

When you end on the right side of your clam before you start the curls,

your curls will curl to the right.

This is a "natural" flow.

If

you find the opposite

to be true for you...

Go with it!

This IS NOT about you doing things

MY WAY!

This is about you learning how to do new things.

We ALL learn differently!

Our hand writing isn't the same!

Our brains EACH work differently!

YOU do what works BEST for YOU!!!

Here is the stitched out section of my book.

We now have 2 full pages for our book!

8 different ways to make Clams!

WOW!!!

Ready to move on?

We're moving out of clams!

I like clams...

But, there's so many other

great designs

we need to cover!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter