pencils and graph paper

So what does a quilter who doesn't have any quilting software, or much other fancy software for that matter, do when she's got an idea in her head that she needs to show someone else?



I bought myself some colored pencils and graph paper and so far it's working. I know exactly what I want to do, so I don't need to try different settings or layouts, just get the thing onto paper.

I don't exactly love my color selection, but I suppose that's what I get for buying the cheapest pencil set I could find. A good decision, since I've already rescued them from the boys (who have their own pencils and crayons) more than once.

There has to be a slightly better way to do this. For most of my scrap quilts, I just start piecing and see what happens. One variation leads to another quickly with the baby quilts. Now and then, there's one that doesn't thrill me, but I've had that happen when I was following a published pattern and I thought I knew what I was making.

What about you? Do you plan carefully or leap before you look?