Some ask me how I come up with the designs I use on my quilts.  Well… I like to use my own free motion quilting designs when I can.  I practice those designs on the quilt top with my favorite tool:

Acrylic plastic over quilt.
Acrylic plastic over quilt.

Here is my latest quilt top for my new book before it was quilted.  The quilt is made up entirely of scraps.  Those scraps are crazy quilt blocks, extra focus floral blocks and pinwheel blocks.  I laid my large sheet of acrylic plastic (available at your local hardware store) over my quilt top and began drawing with dry erase markers which wipe right off with a paper towel.  You can also use washable markers.  you can see how the designs enhance or detract from the quilt top and get an idea of how you want to quilt it.

The drawings on the plastic that you see are exactly what I chose for the top.  It looks really nice.  This is a great tool and exactly the method I use to teach my class.  Soon I will show you the actual finished quilt top.

There are many books on the subject.  Check them all out and give it a try.

~Happy Quilting.