What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I don't often have much time to sew quilts for myself anymore.  But I did finish one recently that I am in love with.

Remember these improv blocks I was making?

I did some fun, simple quilting on it.  Played around with thread color for some fun effects.

I want to make another one in hot colors now.  I certainly have enough solid scraps to make one (actually more than one)!

My initial plan was for this to be a Compassion Quilt.  But now that it is finished ...

 I didn't pull anything out of my scrap bins this week but I did get out my scrappy improv blocks and start putting together the top.  That is forward progress!

 I feel like I accomplished something this week!

 Even though I am mostly sewing together Compassion Quilt blocks, I still found the time to sew up 5 purple improv blocks this week.

I am looking forward to seeing what you have made with your scraps!

 Not a lot of scrap sewing this week.

But I did finish 6 more improv blocks.  I now have a total of fifteen 8.5" square blocks completed.  Not sure where I am going with this project - right now I am just sewing up scraps!

Do you need a plan for your blocks when you start a project or do you wait to see where the project will lead you?  I rarely know what the finished quilt will look like when I start a project.

Hope I am not the only one that quilts that way :)

 Whaa should a girl do when she already has too much on her plate?

Start another project!

In May, E. A. asked us to make two-color blocks that contained the word "hope."

For my first block I chose Kona Cerise and green to make some skinny strip letters. My skinny strips finish at 1/8" wide. I created boxy letters improvisationally, but aimed for the letters to all be about the same height. The letters are about 6 1/2" tall and the block finished at about 12" x 10".

In my second block I chose a much lower contrast color combination with dark purple and dark grey. I improv cut all the pieces for my letters ...

In April, Isabelle asked us to make confetti inspired pieces for her. She gave us tons of flexibility in what we made for her. "Please create blocks that are abstract, and feature small pieces (1”-ish) within the design. The percentage of small piecing that makes up the block is less important than the impact of the small pieces used in the overall design of the block. Negative space, strip piecing, curved piecing, geometric design – anything goes."

I pulled out my smallest solid scraps, including some pieced bits. Do you see the legs from my "watch me grow" block for ...

This month Carole asked us to create some improv slabs to use in half of our half rectangle triangles (HRTs) for her, paired with solid black. She provided a wide range of color options: red, blue, turquoise, aqua, yellow, yellow-orange, orange, purple, red-violet, green, and yellow-green. She gave us a variety of Kona and Bella Moda colors in these hues and asked us to avoid pastels and dark shades. I dove into my stash and pulled fabric from some of these colors.

I was immediately drawn to Kona Acid Lime and aqua. In many cases I used small scraps and ...

I had a lovely time with Moonlight Quilters of Sonoma County today for 6 hours of Building an Improv Toolbox. This workshop is an opportunity to play and you can join me in this workshop on November 5! (P.S. I'm also teaching All About Angles in a 3-hour workshop on November 4.)

I often forget to "take pictures" in a Zoom workshop. It's so different than being in the physical room with folks. Today I remembered to get a shot of our show and tell at the midpoint when we took a break for lunch. It's ...

In September Elizabeth chose this happy color palette and the traditional inspiration of the Grandmother's Fan quilt block with some guidelines for us to use improv piecing to modernize the block.

I had such fun creating these blocks for Elizabeth. The best part of improv is that the leftover bits that don't fit into one block became the sourdough starter for me to begin the next block. The second best part is that you can't tell where I made "mistakes" cause it's improv and I just rolled with it!

You can learn all the improv skills ...

In June, Chris asked us to make improv blocks using her chosen palette of colors in five color families: purplish, red-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, and green. I started by pulling solids that were a direct match for the Kona colors she listed for us, then filled in a little with colors that were close. She asked for our signature style improv piecing. I'd love to hear what you think of as my signature style of improv. Since I had just taught Improv Log Cabins I was inspired to make one of my blocks a log cabin.

There are a few ...

May's car is parked in June's driveway.

It is May's mess that has led to June's stress. I am not thrilled about it but the sad truth is this - unless we move May's car out of June's driveway, June cannot go anywhere or do anything. 

Angela said that May RSC colors were Sage and Forest Green. With all that was happening in May (international travel, recovering from international travel, catching up with work due to travel, Covid, recovering from Covid, nursing Paul as he recovered from Covid, the Positivity QAL set up and launch ...

Angela announced that April is Pink.  And nature got the memo :-)

Delicate Pink

Hot Pink

Reddish Pink

Pretty Blooms

It is like the sun and breeze shared a naughty joke and all flora blushed. 

Looks like my fabrics are blushing too. I will be sharing with Angela's linky party.

Starting Point

Plus Background Strips

Cut and Sew

Easter Bunny?

When a pink Easter bunny hopped on to my work, I ate him up :-D 

Voila!!!

With a lot of mixing and matching, cutting ...

Loide requested improv Christmas blocks for November in our Bee. She told us that anything goes for Christmas and our blocks could be traditional Christmas colors or something else.

After pondering about what I would make I started with a candle block, approximately 13" x 16".

Some others in the group had made some Christmas trees, so I pivoted and made a wreath, approximately 12" x 12". As I was working I decided that it would be a chunky square wreath, though I included extra background fabric for Loide so she could add some corner triangles to soften it up ...

Last month, Chris gave us the open-ended invitation to play with line in our improv blocks for her. Straight lines and how they intersect, or how they don't. She asked for black background (I used Kona Black) and as many colors as we like (at least two) for our lines, preferably brights.

My lines all vary between 1/8" and 1/2" in width. I really enjoy the look and process of piecing a skinny 1/8" strip. So I started with that.

This first one is about 12" x 12" with 1/8" strips in three colors. Technically ...

In September, Carole asked us to use time as our inspiration for her blocks. She asked us to use solids only with any shape or image that relates to time. And she chose the stunning tetrad palette of blue-green, red-violet, red-orange, and yellow-green (including recommended Kona suggestions to help us out).

My first thought that I couldn't shake was the idea of time passing as my children grow. I created a "watch me grow" block of sorts where I improv pieced the bodies of the three images and then added needle turn appliqué for the heads.

My second block ...

A few weeks ago I shared my new daily project, WIPs Be Gone with Leanne of Devoted Quilter. Here's a wrap up of all the works in progress I worked on during the first 25 days (of the last 100 days of 2021).

My commitment to myself is to spend at least 15 minutes (though often it's longer) making progress on a WIP. My goal is to finish 4 larger quilts before the end of the year as many of my finishes in the last year and a half have been mini quilts. You'll see that I ...

 I finally get to share my project from Kelly Young's (My Quilt Infatuation) second quilting book called Scrappy Improv Quilting.  

As a scrappy quilter, I was so pleased to see that this book is filled with some fun ways to use up those bits ...