Island in the Sky

I figured out which way was up! Don't know what I'm talking about - see my prior post!

My quilt Island in the Sky is all quilted. Such fun to walking foot quilt and then go back and add some big stitch details. A totally delightful creative journey from beginning to end.

Finding spots to add some big stitch embellishments was quite fun.

Inspired by Irene Roderick's quilts displayed at QuiltCon, I purchased her book Dancing With The Wall by Irene Roderick. I find Irene's work to be fascinating and while I hope to take a class from her one day, this book was the next best thing.  I started this quilt about 6 months ago - you can watch the progress through these post -getting started (mid-May) to making block (mid July) to combining block (early August) to Which Way is Up? (mid-September).

Island in the Sky measures 22" x 23" and used Painters Palette solids - colonial blue and white.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Improv Update - Combining

Spent more sew time recently on my improv quilt, shifting my focus from creating new units to rearranging and adding space to the units I've already sewn. (See May and July update.)

I work on this quilt once every week or so and it lives on my design wall in between sessions.  Here were the first set of evolutions of the piece as units were created and added. When I posted about the quilt in mid-July, several people commented that they saw a cat in the collection of blocks (last photo). 

My favorite part about that last arrangement was the upper left corner and the plan was to leave that in place and rearrange the rest. Here are a bunch of different layouts from the exact same set of blocks, all retaining that upper left corner that I really liked.

After letting the blocks sit on my design wall, I was back playing in late July. As I combined parts, the drastic rearranging was underway! My goal here was to add white space into the design and to play around with really different arrangements.

And now I'm here....

The top two-thirds is all attached together and the bottom third is in three pieces. There is a random block pinned in the upper right corner that isn't (yet) part of the piece.

I think the right side is essentially done but I'm thinking about adding some little bits to the left side.

Snapping and sharing pictures of progress has been great fun for me!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Improv Update

In May, I posted (blog) about my purchase of the book  Dancing With The Wall by Irene Roderick and the results of my first sew session (above photo). I cleared off my design wall and the project greeted me each time I walked into the sewing space. 

I played around a more sometime in June (above photo) and added more units to the collection, all inspired by chapters in Irene's book.

Last weekend, I want to play more with curves and created a few more units, even joining a few together. 

The final piece will likely be about 24" square. I've some more units to make and more rearranging to do. I find this slow paced approach to improv to be such a wonderful process and so freeing to just sew and see what happens! Using just two colors has been a positive experience as well.

I'm glad I am capturing the progression of the piece. Until next time....

Have a wonderful day! Patty

I Believe in Dragons

My local MQG guild held an Improv and Color Play challenge.   Our programs this year had touched on these topics several times and members could play with improv, with color placement or with both.

My intent when starting my improv project was to only use scraps of blue solid fabric. I really loved the first two all blue blocks but found the rest of the blocks too boring. 

So I started cutting them apart and adding bits of orange. When it came time to arrange the blocks into one larger block, the quilt felt too busy with no place for the eye to rest. The resulting layout suggests movement and (at least to me) looks a bit like a dragon flying through the air.

As I reflect on my quilt, it represents the sameness of my days (especially because I'm staying home so much during this pandemic) and the bits of orange are the small differences to sameness of my days - be that a picnic lunch, a wonderful swim, or meeting a friend for tea.

Adding pops of hand quilting is one of my favorite things to do to an improv quilt.  

My quilt was faced and finished at 17" x 17".

You can see the other entries in our guild challenge here.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Blue Improv

(Click here for September One Monthly Goal link-up)

In response to an improv quilt challenge from my local guild, I decided to gather up all scraps of blue and make a monochromic improv quilt.

I really loved my first two blocks.  They sort of resembled buildings of some sort.

So I made a few more (no photo of this step) but everything was looking kind of blue and needed some pop so I added some orange. 

Next step was to join the blocks together, bit by bit to end up with one giant square of all improv.  My various ideas lived on my design wall for a few days but nothing was working.  The result seemed overwhelming - your eyes had nowhere to rest.

So I gave myself permission to cut apart my favorite blocks and then carefully cut apart a large scrap of blue and used it to join the blocks together in a unique way.   Suddenly with a bit more orange, I had my final quilt top.

My quilt top is 18"-ish square.  

Next step is to work through how best to quilt - matchstick quilting?  Random walking foot lines?  Or something more custom.

Guild challenge is due in early October so I've got a bit more time to get this done!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Stacked Improv Curves Tutorial

I needed to make some improv curve blocks for my local MQG charity quilt.

These were a lot of fun to make so I put together a quick tutorial in case you want to give it a try.

First, cut 4 squares of fabric - mine were about 8" x 8".  Stack them in any order, aligning along two edges.  With your rotary cutter, carefully cut a freehand curve.  Un-stack and shuffle so that each piece is paired with one of a different color.

Fold each in half to find center.  Align the centers and pin.  Your concave piece should be on top.

One tip - use an old cutting mat when cutting curves to avoid damaging a good cutting mat!

From the center, carefully align fabric, working from center to each edge and pin the concave piece to to convex (pie shaped piece).  Sew seam.  For a different view of pinning for curves, check out Yvonne's tip post.

Note: when working with curves cut with a template, I typically only pin at center and each edge.  Freehand cut curves will not align on edges so you need more pins.

Press each of the four pieces and the stack again - aligning the bottom right corner.  Freehand cut another curve.  And repeat steps from above to align centers and pin from center to either edge.

You'll notice that this method is going to create some wonky pieces.  Wait until you've have sewn the final curves before trimming block.  To trim, use the outer edges of the original cut square to keep those edges on the straight of grain.

Note - Blocks were not trimmed to a predetermined size but only trimmed to square them up.

Play with different arrangements - you'll see two of them in the top row of photo below.  Once you find one that you like, sew them together, press.  Tim to square up the block.

I've been enjoying exploring curves using templates (see Carnival quilt) and now I think I may try some more improv curves!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

improv finish

In October 2017, I had the opportunity to take a class in improv from Michelle Wilke from Factotum of  Arts.   I created a whole bunch of blocks in the class and they hung out on my design wall for awhile  (like over a year!)

Once I assembled the quilt top (of which I can't seem to find a single photo pre-quilting), it sat again for months until I was ready to quilt.  I decided on a mixture of hand quilting and walking foot quilting.

The result?

Yummy texture!

I used a several different threads while quilting - some from Superior Threads, some from Aurifil along with Sulky for the hand quilting.

The quilt finishes roughly 24'' x 17''.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Small Pieces - MQG challenge

(Click here for the One Monthly Goal link-up.)

The Modern Quilt Guild hosts a charity quilt challenge every year for local guilds and individual members.  The charity quilts will be displayed at QuiltCon.

The prompt for QuiltCon 2019 is Small Pieces (read more here) and the required fabric colors are all these pretty shades along with white and cream.

I am a member of the Triangle Modern Quilt guild and we've chosen to build our quilt with improv house blocks made with small pieces (an inch or less).  (The blocks are inspired by a quilt by Jaquie Gering.)

What fun I had making my blocks!

I've got some fabric left and may make one more!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Deconstructed Quilt Block

(Click here for One Monthly Goal April link-up)

My local MQG issued a challenge for our upcoming meeting -  a deconstructed quilt block.

deconstruct - reduce (something) to its constituent parts in order to reinterpret it

I decided to focus on the log cabin block, playing with some ombre fabric from a recent LQS purchase.

Here is a typical log cabin block - extra pretty in rainbow fabrics!

A typical log cabin blocks starts with the smallest square at the center and then builds around it.  (In my case, I went clockwise.)   For my deconstructed block, I decided to see what would happen if I built the block starting with the largest piece, still building clockwise.   Isn't this cool?

I  drew up a graphic so you can get a better sense on how I built this.  On the left is the traditional log cabin block, starting with piece 1.  On the right is my reinterpreted version, starting with piece 13 (starred).  In both cases, I built the block clockwise.

I am thinking about how I might bring both of these blocks together into one quilt layout and left them as blocks for this weekend's guild meeting. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

The Lost Hours

(Click here for the One Monthly Goal January Finish Link-up)

Every Friday night is movie night.  My daughter joins me in my sewing studio turns on the DVD - always one with lots of music.  She watches, I sew and we sing along.

Last Friday, I pulled out my improv project and placed all the blocks on the design wall.  And before I knew it, the movie credits were rolling and two hours had passed!

Hours lost in the sewing room - the very best kind.

I managed to make several new blocks = this was my favorite block from Friday.  Sewing together small pieces of fabric to smaller pieces of fabric - such fun.  This block is 6 1/2 '' wide by 5 '' tall.

My favorite block is sitting on the upper right corner of my design wall layout. I'm not really sure where I am headed with this yet.  I'm loving my fabrics (also used them here).

I started this project in October in an Improvisational: Shapes + Lines class taught by Michelle Wilke.  I love Michelle's work and it was really great to learn from her.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

play improv Parade!

Click here for the One Monthly Goal May Link-up

I had a blast with the improv QAL called play!  This was a no stress QAL, the opportunity to give improv a try and embrace as many or as few of the weekly prompts as you wanted to.

Folks were encouraged to email me their finished pieces for sharing in the parade - cue the band! I asked everyone what they learned from making an improv quilt.  That is shown in italics below each quilt.

Prepare to be impressed!  I think these are just amazing.

Quilt and photo credit to Anita Simmons-Jackson

The Broken Soldier - created by Anita Simmons-Jackson from West Virginia

By attempting improv style, I learned that much of anything in my scrap basket can be used to create an interesting non-traditional quilt block. By forgetting all the rules, some great art can be created.

You can visit Anita on her blog Domestic Felicity.

Quilt and photo credit to Marianne Perry

Breathe - created by Marianne Perry from Maryland

Making the blocks was easier than putting it all together into a balanced whole piece. 

Quilt and photo credit to Betty Cruikshank

Freestyle Awhile in your Stash-pile and Smile (Freestyle for short)  - created by Betty Cruikshank from Oregon

I have done some improv blocks under more restrictive guidelines.   This time I learned to just go wild and see what happens without the restrictions.  Not to worry if the blocks were too big or small.  Just make them fit by adding some fabric on when putting all the odd sized blocks together.  

You can visit Betty on her blog Sew What Now.

Quilt and photo credit to Melissa Meinhard

Truth and Beauty - created by Melissa Meinhard

I started with the word "beauty" because we seem to find things that are "perfect" and symmetrical beautiful. I figured it was ironic and more difficult than I thought. ........So I made "beauty" and wanted more, so I thought "truth" compliments beauty well. Also the idea of "wonky truth" seems timely with fake news, alternate facts, etc.I wanted to employ more improv so I randomly sewed blues and reds together then cut 1 1/2" strips for a border. I love it and need to employ that border trick to more stuff! 

You can visit Melissa on Instagram as @iluvmybaronie

Quilt and photo credit to Beth Fromica

Still - created by Beth Formica from Ohio

I learned to trust my instincts with this QAL. I learned creativity is on-going throughout a project (and that's a great thing). And I can't wait to start another improv project!

You can visit Beth on her blog EVF Design.

Quilt and photo credit to Diann

Wild Thing - an Improv Sampler - created by Diann from Colorado

This was the most fun sewing experience!  I learned I could sew curves, make letters, and put together an interesting quilt without a pattern.  Thanks for inspiring us, Patty!

You can visit Diann on her blog Little Penguin Quilts or on Instagram as @littlepenguinquilts

Quilt and photo credit to Kristel Carnahan

Created by Kristel Carnahan from Canada

Thanks for running this QAL! It was less scary than I thought it would be - I've always been improv-averse - even when I didn't really love the results. (I need to try this again with a more focused colour palette ... trying to make a good mix of colours using only scraps while also trying to stretch my sewing boundaries was not always super successful.)

You can visit Kristel on her blog Work-In-Progress Girl and on Instagram Clumsy Kristel.

Quilt and photo credit to Danice G

Retro Improv Vibe - created by Danice G from Alabama

What I learned about improv was to let loose of symmetry and planning. Also learned about having many different types of blocks all in one quilt.

You can visit Danice on her blog Homespun Hannah's Blog.

Kindness - created by Patty of North Carolina (that's me!!)

I used American Made Brand solids exclusively.  I really went to town with my quilting.   Basic straight line quilting but some areas I did diagonal lines and in others a irregular grid.

For the binding, I did my best to match the quilt - it didn't take as long as you might think to get this to all line up.

Thanks to every who participated in the play QAL.  I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

And thank you to our wonderful sponsors - Auriful and American Made Brand Solids.   Prizes were awarded to random participants who shared in the Elm Street Quilts Facebook group, in each of the two link-ups and who send their quilt photos to be shared in today's post.

The winners (all of which have been notified by mail or Instagram) are -

Beth, Betty, Danice, Cathy & Anita

Congratulations!

I'll be linking up my Kindness quilt with Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

play - finish your improv quilts and the link-up

I really hope that you've enjoyed participating in this QAL as much as I've enjoyed hosting it!

If you haven't already done so, now is the time to think about how to finish your improv quilts.

There are as many different ways to put together improv blocks as there are quilters.  

Some ideas and resources -

Medallion style - wrap improv blocks around a center block  (Maker - Me)

Surround them with lots of negative space  (this became a quilt back)

Amy Ellis has embarked on a 100 day of improv journey.  Look how fun her improv blocks look in a traditional grid setting!  (photo used with permission from Amy.)  I can't wait to see what this looks like once Amy does her FMQ magic.

Quilt and photo credit - Amy Ellis (photo included with permission)

Want some more ideas? The Modern Quilt Guild gallery page has about 60 improv quilts with lots of different settings to inspire.

Once your project is finished, link up below from your blog or Instagram.  For this link-up, projects are considered finished where or not they are final quilts. You can link up as many as you want but only the first one will count towards the final link-up giveaway.

And if you've turned your improv piece into a bag, a bib or something else, please link up and share. That counts as a finish!

If you've got yourself a finished quilt, - quilted, bound and beautiful - please join the parade!  Learn how on this post - photos due by May 1!

I can't wait to see what you've made!

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a wonderful day! Patty