What Imrov. is Teaching Me

So here it is time for the AHIQ March link up and I'm sort of betwixt and between. There's definitely been progress made on one of my previous improv. projects, but it's improv. of a different nature. After adding on a narrow red border, I went neutral and very unobtrusive for the following one.

Upper border applique not looking so good...
Maybe try the large berries on the side?

Because.... yeah. Neutral is often a good choice for the background of those nifty applique borders that I love so much. Not that this quilt had to have applique, but you know me. There was a picture in my mind that beckoned and then after auditioning it, my stomach sort of clenched up. Nope. That is NOT going to work. Which was kind of unfortunate, because I was so confident in how it would look, I had already sewn the flower stems to my border panels. Ouch. How does this happen?

So after playing with several different flower ideas {all based on a bright red stem???}, small and large berries, weird looking leaves, plus all of the above in several different colors, I settled on the bright red {solid fabric} berries with no leaves. Just a whimsical, but monochromatic, sort of repeat--every berry placed by eye not exact positioning. And hopefully it won't end up looking like my improv. sprouted a strange bright red fungus....

Almost through with the first border...

On to the machine stitching sort of improv.! Wanting to play, I dug into a lovely pile of marinating fabrics and made some free-cut string sets. For some reason the strings are still calling to me and I'm wondering if they could possibly be part of something new around here. I love applique. Am always trying to insert it into every possible quilt project. {Perhaps you have noticed?} So what if I use the improv. play to make what I have been thinking of as  'intentional backgrounds'. The idea being that the base improv. unit; ie, the quilt background, would not need to be outstanding, just sort of loose and fun. Then I would have this area to do whatever I wanted to with some whimsical applique. It's an intriguing idea so we'll just have to see where I go from here.

A small stack of string sets

All of these are a minimum of 17" long with 1 to 2 1/2" widths. I didn't want anything too narrow and stringy for the first cuts. I actually do have the faintest idea of where this is {should be} going. Which doesn't mean it will work out 'cuz the first audition hasn't exactly lived up its promise. But I'm discovering more of what improv. is all about. Being open to different endings. Finding creative solutions to unexpected problems. Listening to what the mix of fabric and pattern is trying to say. Leaving opportunity for surprises. It's all good and I'm having fun. Isn't that the most important part? Why don't you check out what Ann and Kaja have going on for this months link up!