A Chorus Line of Sorts

I told you the other day that I was thinking of a skeleton chorus line for Boo? This is how I doodled the idea. In pen. The leg in the air just looks goofy to me.

Hmm, how about with a bent knee? Don't really like this either. [I was pondering eyes and claws instead of the skellies - that's what was going on elsewhere in the page.]

Okay, straight leg. This isn't a real chorus line kick, but it is kinda fun.

I sketched the design first in chalk for the rough placement and then used my new Sewline mechanical pencil to mark it for real. So far I am really liking that tool. I found it a bit difficult to erase, but I suspect that's because it's puffy with all three layers (rather than just erasing marking from the top only). I'll let you know how well it comes out when I'm done. 

Anyway, this is where I'm at so far:

I'm doing the quilting with purple perle cotton size 8. The skellies don't look like a chorus line, but they do have their own groove going. Lily is so not impressed.

For more examples on my quilting in this style with the perle cotton, check out my threads tutorial. The "trick" is to practice your doodling. Doodle, doodle, doodle. And don't try to get too detailed - you'll notice these skeletons are anatomically challenged...

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers. It is excellent, as are his previous two. Anyway, I bring that up because he discusses the 10,000 hour rule. Which is, that 10,000 hours of practice "is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert--in anything..."

I'm not saying I'm a master hand quilter. But I find this idea interesting. I wish I knew how much I've actually hand quilted over the years. I think I might actually be nearish that 10,000 hrs figure. Ten hours a week for over 20 years.... Sure every week I didn't actually quilt that much, but I quilted more others...

And you know I've doodled a LOT. I took notes but when things got a bit dull at school, university, meetings at work.... doodle doodle doodle.

Okay more now about the Hope is a Four-Letter Word quilt. hmm, that one probably needs a new name. The quilt will be for me to use as a teaching tool in classes and hopefully in a book. Fingers crossed. I'm keeping it, it's not for charity.

This is who I've got so far. 

care       Mary C

free        Jen D

glee       Cherie

grin        Julie

grow      Lynne

joy         Nancy   (I love that she's rebelling and doing a 3-letter word instead)

love       Kim

play       John

play       Magpie Sue

sing       Sara H.

soar       AnnieO

warm    Laura

wish      Kathy

Just One More Sara and Chris Daly want to play too, just haven't chosen a word. Rachael is mulling it over.

Diana, you came up as no-reply so send me an email. You are considering doing glee or folk. Either would be great. yes, we already have one glee, but that doesn't matter - people are allowed to have the same favorite word. Have you free-pieced letters before? K is a bit trickier than some of the other letters, so folk would be a bit harder.

For a beginner, hope is a great word - those are all easy letters.

So happy you guys are playing with me. Later!