Fall 1 |
I found the class, Intro to Improvisational Quilts taught by Veronica Hofman-Ortega. The class description reads....
Fall 1 |
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 ...
read moreWell, 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 ...
read moreYou 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 ...
read moreAnd, 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 ...
read moreI'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 ...
read moreHello 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.
I have been stitching together
Improv Star components since November...
I am playing around with a stitch and flip
improv technique...
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 ...
read moreWhen 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 ...
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The last two days I spent putting
these improv houses together...
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 ...
read moreTime to get the Improv Houses
up on the design wall...
I spent some time at the wheel of my
sewing machine today...
I was pawing through the fabric cupboard
and found these surface design fabrics...
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 ...
Remember this Quilt Top?
I spent some time in the Thread Shed
yesterday piecing the last 2 seams
of the Wild Goose Chase quilt top:
I put it back on the design wall
and noticed that the very last flying goose
on the bottom right corner...
is upside down.
Time to get out the seam ripper !
Wild Goose Chase 56 x 66
CLICK HERE to view all Improv posts
CLICK HERE to view all Fabulous Finishes 2022
This is what the improv piece looked
like a week ago on the design wall:
I am in the process of adding a new row
to the right side...
then I can piece all ...
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