Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Small Improv Studies


                                                    (Click here for Harmony Check-in link-up)

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of taking a Small Improv Studies workshop from Jacquie Gering hosted by my local guild Triangle MQG.

It was awesome!  Jacquie is awesome!


The workshop was 3 hours long and Jacquie walked us through the process of creating small improv pieces starting with a graphic or monochromic print as a starter.  We worked with squares and rectangles to start with before she taught us angles, skinny strips and more.

Before she even set us loose with our fabric, Jacquie showed us a number of her pieces and talked through how various fabric choices and final placement helped define the piece.

Having the workshop on Zoom meant our fabric stashes were just a few steps away.  Jacquie used the spotlight feature in Zoom so she could zoom in (!) and see what each wanted to share.  

I created my first piece during the workshop.  I was happy with my first attempt and like the pop of turquoise but not sure I like the background fabric placement and how it flows through the quilt.


While I started my next piece during the workshop, I finished it the next day.  My goal here was to incorporate the skinny strip and work on better flow in the background.  I had only a 2 1/2 '' strip of this eyeglass print in my stash and was happy to put it to good use!


Each of these pieces is framed in a picture frame mat (or my approximation) and are 5'' x 7''.  I am planning to make a few more using a different graphic black & white print and (hopefully) hang them up together in my home.

Such fun!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

6 comments:

  1. Love these. Reminiscent of Gee's Bend quilts

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  2. Such fun indeed. Sounds like a really great workshop!

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  3. It's wonderful that you enjoyed your workshop so much! The pandemic has opened up a new world for virtual learning, and I for one, really appreciate having access to instructors that I would never otherwise have gotten to learn from. I have seven workshops under my belt now, and you'd think I'd had enough... but no. :-) Love the colors you're working with in your improv piece. Aqua and yellow both have my heart. The more I learn about improv, the more I don't know what I should know. It's hard to pin down. So glad you're having fun with the process. Creating improvisationally definitely demands different attention than other quiltmaking methods.

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  4. Oh Patty, what a pretty block. I love the pop of turquoise, too.

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  5. Oh Patty, what a pretty block. I love the pop of turquoise, too.

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  6. It's so good to be learning new techniques and stretching ourselves isn't it? I'm glad you had such a positive experience learning on line. Very handy having all your stash readily available!

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