In 2019, after making a couple of Color Strip and Chunk donation tops, I started an improv part of this color project. I wanted to use up all of my scraps not just those cut into strips.
So far, I have ended up with 2-3 donation quilts of each color. It brought my attention to two things:
- how many scraps I have AND
- how little fabric it takes to make a quilt
This is a great project. It always feels interesting to me and is a wonderful way to use up my small scraps. I also feel like my skills in design are challenged. Sadly, I never seem to have a completely empty scrap bin.
The Quilts
Green, for some reason, was the first color that I worked on. Even though I don’t use a lot of green, that scrap drawer is filling up again. I know that I can make at least one more quilt with them.
After 5 years, I had enough green scraps to make another green improv donation top even after making two green Color Strip donation tops (Green Strip #2 and Green Strip #3) in 2024. This one uses much smaller pieces than the original green improv quilt.
The purple version was the second color I worked on, because a friend told me purple was a favorite color.
I also made a red one which, for red, I find very calming. I feel like this one is much better in terms of design than the previous the original green and original purple.
The orange might be my favorite. I also used the most orange scraps.
The white version was not one of my favorites. I think it looks good, but it was not interesting to piece because most of the pieces were of a similar size and fabric. Finished in January 2020. More information can be found in the post about the donation.
I finally got to blue. This improv version is the third (of four) quilt top I have made from my blue scraps! I finished it in October 2020. Tim quilted it in December 2020 and it was finally finished by March 2021. A good COVID project.
I started this yellow piece right before I redid my workroom in July of 2021. It languished for quite awhile while we procrastinated putting up my design walls. I finally finished the piecing in March of 2022. Erin M. finished the quilting in November of 2022.