Drawing!

I can't stress

how 

IMPORTANT

it is to 

draw,

draw,

DRAW!

Drawing your designs creates 

muscle memory.

Muscle memory 

is needed when you go to your machine

to quilt!

You need to draw each design

until you can draw them 

without hesitation.

Your movements are smooth,

and you know where to go.

THEN,

you can go to your quilt!

(Our sampler is 

JUST FINE

not being as good as our quilt will be!  

It's JUST an reference/idea book for your own personal use!) 

I'm talking about a real quilt,

NOT our sampler book.

So,

drawing to create muscle memory

is a little different

than just our regular writing.

How?

When we write,

our hand and arm are resting on the paper.

When we write,

we hold the pencil close to the point.

When we write,

our fingers and wrist move.

BUT...

WHEN WE DRAW

TO CREATE MUSCLE MEMORY...

We lift our hand and arm OFF the paper.

When we draw to create muscle memory,

we hold the pencil further away from the point.

When we draw to create muscle memory,

we LOCK our fingers and wrist!

This means just than...

LOCK them so they won't move!

Silly!

Not really!

Think about your hand position and movement

when you free motion quilt...

What moves?

ONLY YOUR ARMS AND ELBOW!

Let me show you...

take a piece of paper

and rest it on you keyboard.

Lightly lay your hands on the paper as if it were 

you're quilt your quilting.

Now,

move the paper as you would your quilt.

Only your elbow and arms move!

This was easy, since I knew you're at your computer...LOL!

So,

to create this movement when we are drawing,

LOCK your wrist and fingers!  

Make sure they don't move!

(I KNOW this isn't easy!  It took me a little bit to get it...

But I KNOW you can do this!)

Since I'm a DOMESTIC machine quilter,

That's what I've been talking about.

BUT...

If you're a longarm quilter,

the same principles apply!

When you draw to create muscle memory.

You would hold your pencil as you would your machine.

Lock your wrist,

and your arm and hand is off the paper.

Doing this will create the 

Longarm

muscle memory you'll need for each design.

Keep drawing!

That muscle memory is important!

(I can't tell you haw many of those .50 spiral notebooks I have

with drawings in them!  

You know, the inexpensive ones you get at the start of school?

Buy a few extra!

My kids are out of school,

but there are several left over...

Hannah Montana works for me!)

I'm off to START the cleaning process in my sewing room!

Wish me luck!

A friend of mine wants me to call her tonight,

so she knows I'm ok!

HA!

HA!

Stitch the pieces of life together!

They make a BEAUTIFUL quilt!!!

Nina Clotfelter