Calico Cali Designs: You Might be a quilter if.....

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A few years ago my husband was making fun of me for doodling free motion quilting designs in a notebook during a 2 hour car drive (and in the restaurant while we waited for our lunch).

He said..and I quote: "Hey Scribbles, am I gonna have to start bringing a coloring book and crayons with us when ever we go someplace?"

I started to tell him that I use PENCIL not crayons..when what he said really hit me. A coloring book!! What a fantastic idea!

That will really force my brain to think differently when it comes to choosing designs for spaces. I went out and bought coloring books the very next day. (This was back before coloring books for adults we trendy, so I bought a child's book)

To this day I'll pull out a child's coloring book and just doodle in it and all around the lines. Pretending that each black line is another color of fabric and I have to quilt in or around it. It's a great way to get those creative juices flowing!

So next time you see a 40ish year old woman without kids doodling in a child's coloring book. Don't judge...she just might be a quilter.

Seriously, coloring books have helped me practice free motion designs for years, it's a great way to learn "pathing" (taking a designs from one space to another) and it helps to doodle out your free motion designs before quilting them.

A nice set of colored pencils and a coloring book make excellent gifts for quilters.I prefer to use children's coloring books, because they have more open spaces to doodle in. I like to practice my quilting designs in those open spaces, whereas adult coloring books have lots of fine lines and tiny spaces. They lack open white space to practice in. Adult coloring books are great if you want to actually color, and not work on pathing and designs.

Here are some of my favorite coloring items: (click on the photo to view the product directly)