improv

Improv Quilts at John C. Campbell on Off the Wall Friday from Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever by Nina-Marie Sayre

Fall 1

With 2024 starting, I thought it was a good idea to look into our next creative vacation. Paul and I both wanted to get back to John C. Campbells Folk School in North Carolina so I started there. Luckily,

I found the class, Intro to Improvisational Quilts taught by Veronica Hofman-Ortega. The class description reads....

Explore improvisational cutting and piecing methods to create one-of-a-kind contemporary quilts. Dispense with templates, exact measurements, and block-based patchwork, and embrace the unexpected and exciting outcomes you can get with improvisational patchwork. Arrive with a sense of adventure and spontaneity and prepare to ...

added by Nina Marie 2 months, 2 weeks ago. under crosses , improv , jcc , off the wall fri , seasons

Triangles everywhere, all at once from Ellyn's Place

I just realized I left you hanging. I never shared my completed Improv Triangle Sewalong quilt.... although I did share some of my process here. Well it's finished! Introducing, Triangles everywhere, all at once...

The improv triangle units were made using the process Nicholas Ball spells out in his book, Inspiring Improv. I used fabric I had painted with my gel plate and acrylic paints for the triangles and assorted teal, aqua and orange solids from my stash.

When it came time to quilt, I went a little bananas! It is all walking foot quilted on my domestic machine ...

added by Ellyn 11 months, 1 week ago. under gelli printing , improv , quilt , sew along , triangles

Pantone Quilt Challenge 2023 from Ellyn's Place

I love participating in the Pantone color of the year quilt challenge and have made a quilt just about every year since I learned about it! This year the color of the year is Viva Magenta. Sarah and Elizabeth hosted a challenge and I am happy to share my finished quilt.

My intention was to simply make a wonky square in a square quilt and call it good enough. ahhhh intentions! When I got this pieced together I knew it wasn't done. First of all my "wonky" blocks were not wonky enough! It looked like I had tried unsuccessfully ...

added by Ellyn 11 months, 2 weeks ago. under challenges , color of the year , improv , quilt

Another Improv Triangle Sewalong from Ellyn's Place

Well, I didn't mean to start another quilt but here we are. I can't resist Nicholas Ball's (@quiltsfromtheattic) improv triangle sew alongs, I've participated twice before (here and here) and when he announced a third opportunity to sew along with him I jumped right in.

As I told you in my last post, I've been enjoying gelli printing lately. I had a stack of fabrics I had painted and quickly decided those should be triangles...

After lots of cutting I had almost 90 triangles ready to sew! I pulled out my teal/aqua solids and ...

added by Ellyn 1 year, 2 months ago. under gelli printing , improv , quilts , sew along , triangles

Improv piecing with scraps from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

You guessed it -- EVERYTHING takes longer than you think it will. Did I finish those improv blocks with the leftovers from Farmer's Wife? Nope --- and I went to bed with the problem of figuring out how many blocks I would need, how many I have, and whether I have enough fabric to complete the blocks?

Thanks to a discussion with Katheleen, I will keep these blocks myself. I have a plan and hope I have enough craps to finish it.

Here are the finished blocks. They look fantastic, and I'm very excited about them.

My improv blocks

I ...

added by Elaine 1 year, 2 months ago. under improv , quiltsocial , retreat at the farm , snow

A collaboration, parts 1 and 2 from A Prim and (not so) Proper Quilter

And, it's Design Wall Monday! Read all the way and you'll see it.

Part 1:

We have a son that is a maker. He comes by it honest; but the great thing is that he does beautiful work, and I sit back and admire that he managed to acquire that particular gene or trait, which I believe is from his father’s line and my father’s line.

In other words, he is an artist. He makes his living as one. For a few years we have discussed the desire to collaborate. Life and the pandemic got in ...

added by Shari - a prim and (not so) proper quilter 1 year, 2 months ago. under collaboration , family , improv , quilting

Some REassembly required from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

I'm so glad to see people ARE using those special dishes! And eating in the dining room! That won't happen at our house, but that brings back memories. Remember those houses that had the "front room," and the furniture was wrapped in plastic. Oh my --- someone was afraid of a little stain or two. Thankfully, our mindsets have changed, and crack out that good china!!!!!

So we're happily ensconced at Retreat at the Farm in Shelburne. What a nice, cozy house. I can hear the wind whipping outside this morning, and I'm toasty warm in the ...

added by Elaine 1 year, 3 months ago. under boho heart , half square triangles , improv , retreat at the farm

not quite a quilt coat from Ellyn's Place

Hello friends! I have a fun finish to share with you today. Here's me in a denim jacket I recently dug out of the back of our coat closet. I'd forgotten I even owned it! I looked at it for a bit and then I had an idea. So I set to work.

Last weekend I was on retreat with my quilty pals and I whipped up this improv panel using some extra solids from projects I had brought along. I used a few of may favorite shapes and techniques, triangles and Xs, skinny lines. The finished panel ...

added by Ellyn 1 year, 3 months ago. under garment sewing , improv , quilting

Improv Stars...Design Wall from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

I have been stitching together

Improv Star components since November...

Now that the design wall is cleared off,

it is time to put them up on the wall...

These go together like a jigsaw puzzle...

the star blocks are not square,

they intersect one another.

I have a limited amount of the

black and white surface design fabric

that I created, so I don't know

how far I can go with this design...

15 Star Blocks up on the wall...

Time to cut out the background fabric

and fill it in to create an edge treatment

around the star ...

added by LuAnn Kessi 1 year, 3 months ago. under design wall , improv

Improv Stars... from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

I am playing around with a stitch and flip

improv technique...

Improv Stars

This is what my work table looks like today...

I pawed through my scrap bin and

pulled out a few jewel tone scraps

and sorted them by color...

I also found this...

I placed strings under white cotton

and rubbed over the top with thickened dye.

I cut it into 2 1/5 inch strips,

then cut it into 2 1/5 inch squares

and 2 1/5 x 4 1/5 rectangles

Then I stitched triangle shapes

to the corners...

The 4 squares go in the ...

added by LuAnn Kessi 1 year, 5 months ago. under improv

Grandmother’s Fan Meets Modern Improv Bee Blocks from Goer

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 ...

added by sarah 1 year, 6 months ago. under bee blocks , building an improv toolbox , improv , improv blocks , quilting (Comments)

A New Old Project from Sew........This Is My Blog

When I was working on Kacie's quilt in 2021 (you can read about it here) I pieced a backing for it using leftover fabrics from the front along with a few pieces from my stash. I liked it so much when it was finished that I decided to turn it into a quilt top at a future date instead of using it as a back.

I added an orange strip .....

..... and knew it needed more, so I set it aside. A few weeks ago I was in the mood to get something off my UFO list, so I pulled ...

added by Sandy Panagos 1 year, 7 months ago. under anna maria , free spirit , improv , kacie , love always am , so scrappy

Improv Houses....Quilt Top Done from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

The last two days I spent putting

these improv houses together...

all different shapes and sizes...

it was like putting a puzzle together,

challenging and FUN !

The black thickened dye scribble fabric

worked nicely for a border treatment...

it also brightened up the whole design...

Lots of movement in those borders...

I am thinking gray thread

for the machine quilting...

It will blend with the dark and the light fabrics.

Basting and Quilting....Next

The bees are loving the sunflowers

just outside of the Thread Shed.

Enjoy what is left of our summer !

CLICK HERE to view all my improv ...

added by LuAnn Kessi 1 year, 7 months ago. under design wall , flowers , improv

Improv Houses.....Design Wall from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

Time to get the Improv Houses

up on the design wall...

I had to get them up just to see if

the sold red hand dyes

worked with the black X commercial fabrics...

The X fabric creates some texture...

The more houses up on the design wall,

the better I like it...

It has been great FUN incorporating

my thickened dye surface design fabrics

into this project...

Over 40 houses on the wall so far...

Of course, I am already thinking about

and edge treatment...

I have several 1 yard pieces that I created

with black thickened dye...

I folded ...

added by LuAnn Kessi 1 year, 7 months ago. under dyeing , flowers , garden , improv , surface design

Improv Houses....more houses from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

I spent some time at the wheel of my

sewing machine today...

I am stitching improv houses...

This is my original pull of fabrics...

mostly hand dyes and surface design fabrics

and a few commercial fabrics.

I pawed through the fabric cupboards

again today and found a few more fabrics

that might work for this quilt:

This is a new pile of darker black fabrics...

a mix of my hand dyed and commercial fabrics.

This is a new pile of white and black fabrics...

again a mix of my hand dyes

and commercial fabrics.

This was my best find of ...

added by LuAnn Kessi 1 year, 8 months ago. under improv

Improv Houses... from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

I was pawing through the fabric cupboard

and found these surface design fabrics...

Created with black thickened dye...

Check out what I wrote on the selvage...

I created this fabric with hand made

nature brushes and

thickened dye.....in 2018

Looks like it was FUN making this piece !

These circles were created with a

nature brush made from feathers...

This fabric was created by putting strings under

the fabric then rubbing over the top with

thickened dye...

I also found this soy waxed fabric:

I wrote on the fabric with hot soy wax,

after it cooled off and hardened,

I ...

added by LuAnn Kessi 1 year, 8 months ago. under dyeing , improv , soy wax , surface design

An unusual quilt and start of another from Art In Search

My husband's mother and grandmother quilted and sewed clothes. I learned a lot about quilting from them. My husband's mom, Rosemary, was a wonderful woman and mother who left us too soon at 66, younger than I am at 68. Very sobering. She used to make improv quilts before anyone claimed them. She used polyester double knits left over from sewing clothes (six kids) to create lap quilts and hand sewed the pieces using the herringbone stitch and perle cotton. These quilt wear like iron, never fade, are warm and have a certain charm that many dismiss.
Victoria ...

added by Linda Swanekamp 1 year, 8 months ago. under improv , upstairs

Crosscut Tote Bag... from May Your Bobbin Always Be Full

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