Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
The stripes in this piece are really striking. The rainbow stripes from Chain Link make this piece less depressing than it might be if I had excluded them.
I am pleased that I finally finished this piece. It has been on the design wall for more than a year and it is a relief to get it to the Community Quilt team.
I am pleased with the way it came out. Most of these improv quilts are hard to pass along.
I have been working diligently on the Black Improv. Surprisingly it is getting quite large. Not king-sized or anything, but large for one of my donation quilts.
After having this piece languish for a long time, I thought it would be a chose to finish it. Even though I am not finished yet, I am having fun working on it. So many stripes!!
I am using the strips I cut for color strip blocks to make the quilt bigger and to make the piecing a little easier. I know I will make more black scraps at some point, so why not?
At the widest and tallest points in the photo above, the piece is 38w x 35l. It is getting to be the size I like giving to the Community Giving project.
I haven’t made much progress on this piece, but I haven’t given on it either. After I posted about the most recent Color Improv finishes, I got some nice feedback and decided to get back to this piece.
I had a couple of the strip blocks and I decided to add them to the piece so as to make it larger sooner.
It has been a struggle, because I have the half 16 patch blocks for the next Sidewalk quilt as leaders and enders as well as the Four Patch Fun piecing.
So much quilty goodness!!
I wasn’t able to make the guild meeting on the 17th, but Lee Ann was kind enough to send me some photos of the recently finished quilts.
The grey looks really great. This grey improv quilt is one of my favorites. I am kind of sad to see it go to some random person. I am sure that person will appreciate it.
Since I have been using quite a bit of grey recently, I expect to work on another in the not too distant future.
The recent green one is also finished. It is not a favorite, but I know someone will like it.
I really appreciate the other guild members’ efforts in finishing these. It allows me to do the parts I enjoy.
The blue improv top and back are finished and delivered to the community giving team.
I am not sure about the border, but I wanted it bigger and it is too late to go back now.
The border also kind of stabilizes all that improv piecing and bias edges.
I am doing quite a bit of rummaging in my fabric bins, so there are some interesting fabrics on the back.
I enjoy these improv pieces and may need to get back to the Black Improv piece pretty soon.
This piece is at the painfully growing stage since the last time I showed it. The rest of my blue scraps are either very small or weirdly shaped, which makes it hard to use them. I am trying to use as many of them as I can, despite the problems. I am not sure the piece will be big enough for a donation top. It might be close and I’ll have to figure what to do with it if it is.
While I worked on the Chain Link top, I used blue improv piecing as leaders and enders. I am really enjoying watching the improv piece grow as my blue scrap pile shrinks.
I still have a big pile of pieces that I am working on enlarging. As the scrap pile shrinks it gets harder to match up pieced units and make them bigger. Still, I seem to be doing it and I am having fun.
I have slowed down a little on the Blue Strip blocks, mostly because I am running out of strips. I am, however, putting smaller pieces of fabric together to make chunks of improv piecing for another Blue Improv donation top. The chunk on the left is the largest piece so far, but I am making progress on others as well.
My blue scrap bin is emptier. I can close it now.
I have finally finished the Grey Improv donation top and back. It has taken awhile, though much of the time was it hanging on the design wall going nowhere.
I did a good job working through my odd sized grey scraps, which is the whole point of the exercise. I am even more convinced that improv works much better in a monochromatic palette. I think that a complementary color scheme would work as well. I haven’t tried that I think the quilt would end up being bed sized.
This quilt is about 45 in. x 45 in., which is on the large size for a baby quilt, but definitely kid sized. Also, in this color scheme I could imagine it working well for a boy.
I used the leftovers from two quilts for the back: the Hugs and a Kiss quilt and the Half Hexie Star. Good use of some good fabrics.
While working on the Old Town blocks I have been using my grey scraps to add to the Grey Improv donation quilt. I am really enjoying building up the size of this quilt. It takes forever to get the right sized pieces, but all of a sudden it is bigger. It is really fun.
After finishing the White Strips #3 donation top, I needed another leaders and enders project.
This grey improv scrap top has hung on my small design wall for almost a year. I am shocked at that! I didn’t realize how much time had flown by.
My grey-black-brown drawer isn’t crammed full, but it isn’t empty either and I decided that I need to work on this project to get it off the design wall and to someone who needs it. Also, it will be a relatively quick win on my fabric used spreadsheet.
At the moment, as leaders and enders, I am sewing together all the scraps that are not strips. I am sewing them into pieces that I can then sew on to the top above. You can see pieces I have placed, but not sewn. They are just temporarily in place until I can add more pieces to them to make a unit large enough to expand the top. It’s a lot of piecing, because the pieces are small.
The main piece I have already sewn together is about 32 inches wide. I need another 10 inches, at least. I’ll probably have to dig into the strips to make the quilt big enough.
Slowly, but surely I am making progress on this green improv donation quilt. I am exclusively using it as leaders and enders so I can finish it for the guild Community Quilts project.
It is about 40 inches wide and I want to make it that long as well. That is about the minimum useful size for a baby quilt, I think.
It is fun to remember quilts and bags I have made with the various fabrics in this piece. I am pleased to be cleaning out the random bits of green, but it is hard going. Piecing ‘made’ fabric takes time.
I have made some progress on the Green Improv #2 donation top. This is the second green improv, though the first one was called The Green Thing. Perhaps I should call #2 The Swamp Creature. LOL!
I started using the green scraps I had already pinned together in the green scrap drawer. It was easy to make progress by using them as leaders and enders while I worked on other projects, such as the Ombre Weave quilt. It is amazing how pieces grow larger if I actually work on them!
it is about 36 inches wide now. I’d like the piece to be minimum 40×40 inches. I don’t really want to put a border on it. I’d like it to matches the other quilts in this series, but I may, if I can’t get it large enough. I was thinking of scattering bits of improv in between sashing. I would want to do that with green solids and I don’t know that I have enough green solids to make the idea work. It is a thought I’ll keep in the back of my mind if I need it.
The grey improv top is looking good! It’s been a few weeks since I talked about this piece. I am very pleased.
Yes, I have made some good progress and I really like the way it is turning out. This piece is approximately 24.5 w x 17.25 tall. I have some sewing to do before it can be considered large enough for a donation quilt. Still, I really like it and it is shaping up nicely.
I am still concerned I won’t have enough scraps to make it large enough. I am trying not to worry about it. Sometimes I can’t help it.
