Yeah For Viewers Choice Nomination and More Ad.-Hoc Improv.!

Wowsers! So exciting to see 'Things Will Never Be the Same' voted into the finalist round at the Bloggers Quilt Festival! Thank you to everyone who has {or will be} voting for this very-special-to-me quilt. A Viewers Choice nomination always feels like such an honor.

Things Will Never Be the Same

So today I finally have all my {Cultural Fusion piecing} improv. blocks sewn together--20 of them! When I put them side by side, they look like such a jumble. Meh! The applique circles I intend to sew onto each block will certainly help bring these blocks into better focus, so that's a given. I like that part a lot because it just feels right.

Improv. pinwheel lbocks

This has been an odd project for me. Trying to experiment  more with these sort of controlled, almost formulaic 'improv.' blocks is very intriguing to me. It gives me the perfect setting to be free; ie, cutting the single print squares out and then free cutting the shapes. I like a certain amount of clear cut boundaries, even if self inflicted. But, it also feels sort of like cheating. How 'free' it is when the shape is basically pre-determined? I am having such a hard time getting away from the idea that 'improv.' should have absolutely no barriers!

Considering a corner triangle fabric....

But that's okay. I'm getting around that notion just fine because the fact is, working in this manner allows me to take greater risks with my fabric choices--sort of stretch myself outside of that safe little comfort zone. And these fabrics are some that I've returned to time and again for some crazy reason that only makes sense inside my head. Wondering how they could be used.  Greatly enjoying the faintly 'vintage' vibe that I keep sensing and hoping that same vibe can be made even stronger by careful manipulation of fabric and piecing.

Thought about using yellow instead, but too blendy...

Do you ever feel that urge? To try and communicate a 'feeling' in your quilts? So ambiguous and ill-defined. Fabric is fabric is fabric, right? But we all know there's a key to putting it together. Because some quilts feel flat and uninspiring. Some quilts look like the 80's. Others are joyful or heartwarming. There's all sorts of feelings to convey in the quilts we make. I really, really want to make this quilt feel {and look} retro or vintage. A good challenge always keeps me interested and more focused. How about you?

Really like this floral on white fabric!

To that end I have kept with the aqua, red and yellow colorway that people are getting so weary with these days. There are whole lines dedicated to this particular look, but I didn't want to have someone dictate my specific fabric choices. Digging deep into my stash, here's what I ended up: There are polka dot prints, a bright, clear red fabric and a solid aqua as well, different stripes, small and mid-large florals--vintage, 30's and modern, a check fabric and also a re-purposed small blue/white plaid fabric. Some of these fabrics have been floating around in my stash for well over ten years! I wouldn't want to use a pretentious word like 'curated', ha ha, but I've certainly carefully weighed the value of each particular fabric choice. These colors and prints don't come naturally to me as a unit, so I've been second guessing myself every step of the way!

And love how it starts looking more focused when
the corner triangles get larger plus lighter!

And finally I've decided there needs to be more white. What would a vintage looking quilt be without a solid white fabric? Which is virtually non-existent in my stash. Creams, tans and golds, yes. White? You're looking at all I have.*sigh

So that's it for the September AHIQ. All I have to show you! Still prepping for applique work to finish up on my other two AHIQ projects, but eventually I'll have more to post there.

Why don't you join us in our Ad-Hoc Improv. fun?  It's a great crowd!