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I've been doodling my week away!

31/5/2015

I have been getting a bit carried away with doodling this week. But it has yielded some fabulous results.

I thought I would share some of them with you - just for fun.

I started on paper, drawing some funny bird shapes.

Then I filled them with random doodles and traced just the outline onto a piece of white cotton fabric.

Then I stitched the outline with black thread on my sewing machine..... and then went doodle cRaZy!

Tips: Use a thin black thread in the bobbin and for stitching
Stitch at a medium, steady speed.
Back track over lines to stop you having to break the thread.

And this is how they turned out. Im not sure about the mid air 'duck' - he needs some legs I think!

Although they look quite striking in black and white, I think they look even better with some colour added.

Why not have a try?

doodle........................ stitch.................................paint!

Thanks for reading!

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Do you doodle?

25/5/2015

Yes! I am a doodler. Are you?
If I am sitting on the phone and there is a pen and a piece of paper near me something happens - and by the time I have hung up whatever the paper was is covered in scribble. Sometimes it causes trouble.

"What happened to the water bill?" was the last difficult question I had to answer this week. What had once been just a water bill was actually now a piece of blue biro artwork. Normally this would not have been a big problem - but when you want to open a bank account and have to go to the bank with the all important ID documents, you know - passport and a utility bill ..... which is now covered in my spontaneous drawings .................

Trouble is not far away.

So - now I will try to be more selective in my doodling material - but still, sometimes accidents do happen.

Etymology
The word doodle first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or sitmpleton. It may derive from the German Dudeltopf or Dudeldop, meaning simpleton or noodle.

Doodling v Drawing

Let's just clear one thing up.
Doodling is not the same thing as formally drawing.
A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. So, if I sit down and focus on just drawing, then that is a drawing. To be a doodle I am drawing, but not really thinking about it.

Doodling has a bad reputation

Now - when I was in school, doodling was severely frowned upon as being a waste of time , or even worse, proof that you were not concentrating. How wrong they were!!! Recent studies by Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth have come to my rescue and give scientific proof (obviously the best kind) that doodling is NOT the product of a wandering mind, but, in fact, the complete opposite! Doodling is not my mind 'daydreaming' but rather a way to force it to stay focussed on the present.
In fact, much like chocolate and red wine, doodling has benefits. Who knew?

So what, exactly, are these benefits? 

I liked this one so much I painted it afterwards

Doodling increases creativity
When we process information and turn this into learning there are several 'ways' or 'modalities' our brains like to use. Here are the most common; auditory, kinesthetic, visual, reading, writing. Each of us has our preferences. My brain learns best from images and doing things. Have you ever thought about how you like to learn before?
It is believed that if we are to really learn and assimilate new information we need to engage at least two of these modalities at the same time - or one modality and an emotional connection (sounds complicated.... but it really isn't)
Anyway, the great thing about doodling is that is that it uses 3 of these modalities straight away!

Visual, because we seeing what we are drawing
Kinesthetic, because we are using our hands to draw
Auditory, because we are processing information by listening to what someone is saying to us

Doodling improves your focus and concentration
Often people think that doodlers are daydreaming, with the mind wandering off somewhere. However, Professor Jackie Andrade has been found that the act of doodling actually reinforces the brain to pay attention instead of drifting off. Sunni Brown, an eminent doodler who has made a business out of teaching big businesses the benefits of doodling, states that the act of doodling itself, drawing shapes and symbols, actually forces the mind to slow down and focus on the present. (Nice work if you can get it, Sunni!)

Must have been a pretty frustrating phone conversation

Doodlers have better memory
Back to Professor Jackie Andrade again. She found that doodlers recalled facts 30 percent better than non-doodlers. You can read more about the study here.
The bottom line is that process of doodling helps us remember things better because it brings the information currently being absorbed into a more saturated and sensory experience, allowing a clearer picture of the facts in our memory.

Doodling helps you see the big picture
According to philosopher Jesse Prinz, who is a professor at City University of New York, doodling helps you hit the sweet spot in your brain, the spot where you are paying close attention but you are not overthinking things.
Sometimes when we are too focused on something, we overthink things, especially the little details that often don’t matter. As a result of focusing on the small details, we fail to see the big picture. By doodling, we don’t pay as much attention to the small details of the information we absorb. Instead, we tend to focus on overarching ideas, which are paramount to seeing the big picture.

I have no idea what sparked this off!

Doodles and Quilting

With all this free 'inspiration' to hand I think doodles lend themselves to free motion quilting patterns very nicely. As an experienced doodler I have lots of material to put my hands on. Stuck for a FMQ pattern? Put on your favourite music and sing along. Or maybe phone a friend and have a natter - but do it with a pen in hand and a pile of scrap paper (no water bills please). Just let your hand do what it likes and I will bet that you will come up with something that you could turn into a free motion quilting pattern. Here are the two doodled pages that I used on my Heron on the Vlei and Flamingoes on the Vlei quilts. There; more proof.

These two pages of doodles became the background FMQ design for my 'Modition' series of quilts

Doodle Birds

Which brings me on to my latest project: Doodle Birds. I am actually revisiting a technique which I tried out about 5 years ago, early on in my ventures into Free Motion Quilting. I decided I wanted to get better at FMQ - and there is nothing like a bit of practice to see improvements. It all began with a doodled bird.................... and this is where I have ended up.

It takes time and patience to create a Doodle Bird, but it has improved my FMQ enormously. If you think you would like improve your FMQ then why not give one a try? I will be teaching a workshop at Midsomer Quilting in Somerset on 14th November, but why wait? Get out a pen and some scrap paper, phone a friend and go for it! What have you got to lose?

For more info on the workshop click here.

'The ones that got away' art quilt workshop at Midsomer Quilting

18/5/2015

I have just spent a fantastically fishy weekend in Somerset teaching 'The ones that got away' to 14 lovely ladies. Thanks so much to all at Midsomer Quilting for inviting me to teach there.

Thank you to Jilly, Trudy, Chris, Helen, Sue, Penny, Lauraine, Tracey, Pauline, Dee, Lisa Maggs, Margaret and Jan. You all worked incredibly hard and the fish looked fabulous!

Thanks, too to Birgitta for all her help and to De for ordering all the fabrics and materials that helped the day run so smoothly.

'The ones that got away'

Here are some pictures of the great work in progress.

The techniques we used included:
fused raw edge applique
using soluble thread
machine trapunto
free motion quilting
layering transparent fabrics
cutting away fabrics to reveal lower layers
creating a net from thick thread

The workshop was quite intensive, and we didn't manage to complete the whole quilt in a day, as I had hoped. But everyone had a great time, and people who had never stitched free motion quilting before all had great success in stitching the scales onto their fish. It is always such a pleasure to see people learn something new.

If you are interested in finding out more about this workshop, why not take a look a the brochure? You can download it here.

If you have any questions about the workshop or want to leave a comment, please do!

Thanks so much for looking!
Claire

Please feel free to share my website or blog with your friends by using the buttons to the right. If you would like to receive an e mail each time I post a new blog, please clickhere. I promise to never send you junk or give your address to anybody else.

Inspiring artists

12/5/2015

Over the past few weeks I have met so many very nice and talented people, some just starting out with textiles and quilting, others who have been stitching for years. Regrettably, I was not able to chat for long to all of them, but every single person I spoke to was interesting and for that reason alone, I had a fantastic exhibition at MQ.

As you can probably imagine - I do not have a lot in the way of quilting work I can share with you this week, but what I do want to share is the work of some of the visitors who came who do have an online presence. Not everybody wants to put their work on show, for personal or professional reasons - so I have included the work of some of the visitors - but I can assure you, everything I saw was fabulous.

So, when you have an hour to spare (!!) make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, and settle down and have a look at the websites of some of the visitors. Click on the pictures and follow the links.

Beryl Slade

Angela Knapp

Michelle Cooke

Hilary Gooding

k3n

Margaret Pratt

Liz Hewitt

Alicia Merrett

Chrisse Seager

Mandi Bainbridge

Catherine Millar

Judith Gait

Andrea Ashwell

Viv Fox

Stephanie Crawford

Lynne Quinn

Thanks for looking.

Thank you!!

4/5/2015

Hi

So, here I am, grinning like the Cheshire cat, four days into my first solo exhibition at Midsomer Quilting and it has already exceeded my expectations. I have met so many lovely people who have come from far and wide to visit. Thanks so much to all who have come so far - I have really enjoyed chatting to everybody, meeting colleagues from the Guild, making new friends and exchanging ideas.
Here are just a few pictures. I have been talking so much that I have not managed to take many myself, so thanks to people who have taken pictures for me and shared them on my behalf.

De, as busy as ever!

Thanks also to De, Birgitta and Chris from Midsomer Quilting who have not only provided me with the beautiful space for the exhibition, but also hung the exhibition for me and supported me from the very start. I could not have done all this without you!

Chris, always messing about!

Already there have been some fabulous experiences , and one of many special moments was when these two ladies arrived (completely independently and without and planning). After we had greeted each other they introduced themselves; meet Angie and Michelle (@AngelaKnapp10 @MichMixedMedia) we have been following each other on Twitter for a few months, finding out about and admiring each other's work. It never crossed my mind that we would ever meet - and then suddenly the three of us were in the same room!
Click on their names to see their fantastic work:
Angela
Michelle

Angie, Claire and Michelle: Twitter friends!

Claire and Nik: Facebook friends.

Then the next day I started chatting to another lovely lady named Nik - this time a Facebook friend. We chatted for hours and Nik helped me with posting my pictures to Facebook!

Not really being a huge fan of social media, it amazed me to think that without it I may never have met these talented artists.

And yesterday my quilting friend Julie came along. Here she is chatting with my mum (who has been fantastic in helping me each day by keeping everything running smoothly).

Julie was extremely generous in offering her skills and time when I was writing my book. She created her own version of the 'Sardine Run' quilt, using my written instructions - making sure it all worked out.
Her quilt is almost finished and I am hoping she will allow me to show it at the workshops on the 16th and 17th here at MQ. (There are just a few spaces still available if you would like to attend.)

Textile flower bowls

Spirit horses

Map of Capetown made on a workshop with Alicia Merrett

The exhibition continues until the 11th of May - so still lots of time to visit if you have a moment to spare. I would love to meet you if you can make it.

Thanks for reading!

I've been doodling my week away!

Do you doodle?

'The ones that got away' art quilt workshop at Midsomer Quilting

Inspiring artists

Thank you!!

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