Plodding Along

 There's not going to be a lot going on here quilty-wise in the next month or so, but hopefully I won't go completely dark! No matter what else is happening around me, I can usually squeeze in a bit of hand quilting, so there's that.

Sweet Hospitality is done!

The latest quilt finish is Sweet Hospitality. It's been in the quilt top stage since late in 2018. I loved the old fashioned pineapple blocks when I first started them, but somehow, somewhere, the quilt lost its pizazz for me and then, more or less became a problem child.

Still liking this pineapple block

As per my new normal, I was trying to use up fabrics from the stash and well, yeah. This was probably one quilt where I should have went out and bought special. Why am I so stubborn about this? Whatever! It ended up coming together better than I expected, but somewhere a bit below the standard that I tend to set for myself. 

Definitely looks better washed and dried...

Like I had hoped, the quilting texture really helped lift the look of the quilt. It's so funny that I oftentimes have wishful thinking when it comes to that hand quilting stuff. Surely, surely, it will cover a multitude of sins! Right? And that bright binding... Nothing like what I was expecting, but nevertheless, a very good save. After finally settling on it, I had to wonder why I ever expected anything else to work out? It was just so obvious....

Can a quilt be too scrappy?

I struggled mightily with how to quilt this one. Mostly because I get so tired of echo quilting all my applique efforts. Or do I actually do that? Maybe I'm just tired.*wink  Regardless, it all because so much clearer when I finally decided to put yet another quilt top on the back side of the quilt. Such a rare decision, but it seemed right for a 'just for play' quilt.

The improv. quilt back

It sent my brain into a tizzy at first wondering how not to end up with a complete and total disaster on one side or the other, then it all made sense. The only solution was to stitch some type of endless repeat. Of course! And I love the fact that it didn't even really matter whether it was a Baptist Fan or whatever else I chose. And don't let people dissuade you from extra piecing in the backing when it comes to hand quilting. With a curved stitching pattern, you rarely ever run into long stretches of 'too much seam allowance' to stitch through. A couple tough stitches here and there, and otherwise, it's all good to go!

Just had to see what this side looked like!

So I gleefully dove in with the idea of stitching simple looking 'Hills'. It's been a year and a half since I've done this, but I remember making a mental note to do this again some day. And it turned out to be such a good decision! Always rough to stick it out through the first row or two, but once it starts showing more, then it's time to relax and just enjoy the stitching. So crazy, I love the back of the quilt almost more than the front!

Looks cozy enough to use!

In fact, if my daughter-in-law hadn't chosen it for her next quilt, I'd probably be trying to hoard this one for a couple more years. Just for the improv. side. 'Cuz more and more, that's what I want to work on, even if I don't have a clue as to what I'm actually trying to accomplish! 

AHIQFlowers next up in the hoop!

And that leads me to the 'next up in the hoop' quilt top, #ahiqflowers. This one was a response to an AHIQ prompt and also, an interpretation of an 'Unconventional and Unexpected' quilt. There are many quilt tops that should be in the front of this particular quilt top, but you know how it is. Gotta grab the one that's actually making us WANT to pick up a needle and thread....

The sunflowers totally make it...

There are entirely too many have too's in our life at the moment, better to have a little bit of simple pleasure when I pull out the hoop in the evenings. At the moment it does feels like I'm trying to 'over-quilt' this one. Trying not to get too worked up about that though. One hoop at a time and the details will sort themselves out at the end. What is the worst case scenerio? I'll have a Kantha type look for my improv. quilt? Oooh... wouldn't that be terrible....

Enjoying the Improv.

I know some of you readers are not too impressed with improv. but I still find it very interesting. In fact, when I went back and skimmed through old posts, I worked on somewhere around 10 different quilt projects involving improv. just in 2017! It's very exciting to see the start of a new AHIQ blog too. Come join in if you'd like!

Three rows sewn together

That many improv. project tells me that somehow improv. has become a very integral part of my quilting journey. As my mother pointed out recently, I don't always get it right, but occasionally what does happen is a quilt that surpasses anything that I had previously attempted {in the pre-improv. years}. Uh huh, mom's gotten more blunt in her older years and her compliments often come with a sting. But let's be honest. Learning is awkward, messy and uncomfortable at times, but so worth it when the results prove an unmistakable growth.

Auditioning fabric and pieces for the fourth row

 As many of you know, I picked up this book a few years ago and have very slowly been working my way through the scores. Slowly as in the Hare versus the turtle. I'm not even sure the book is on my radar at times and then suddenly I'm deeply immersed in the next score. This particular project is Score #5 and the fabric has been stacked, waiting to go for eons. Just waiting for that inexplicable 'something' to trigger the start button.

This week, like a good girl, I made myself work on the HST Medallion quilt before diving back in again to pick up where I had left off before. Veggies before dessert and all that. Or maybe it was major procrastination, but whatever. It wasn't until I was sitting on the floor unpicking part of a row, that I suddenly realized the stupid grin on my face was absolute and sheer enjoyment. Oh, you better believe that this quilt makes me very uncomfortable and extremely frustrated working through all the design decisions. But funnily enough, it all feels good compared to making a bazillion 'perfect' hst blocks.*uggh  How brilliant to work on the other quilt first, huh?

Overlapping and trimming for sewing the rows together...

I dithered along, first making one long row and then the other, fussing with my four main fabrics {boring, boring, boring} to try and get a good flow going. I was up and down from the floor, over to my sewing machine and then to the iron and then back to do it all over again. After a couple hours of this, I started calling it reactionary. As in, every design decision in this quilt is simply a reaction to what has gone before.  I'm not sure, but methinks the quilt has decided to name itself.

And the middle of the quilt is completed

And this was a good place to stop. The next step will be adding a vertical row onto each side of the quilt, all in different fabrics. That's when I gave myself permission to jump over to my other improv. quilt. The one you didn't even know was started..... Yep, a couple weeks ago, this quilt spontaneously combusted into being. Basically, I have very little control over new starts these days.

Looking at some potential units for the next improv. quilt...

Especially when they are this intriguing and I'm stalling hard core over several open-ended projects that I Don't Wanna work on. And see? This one has lots of hst's too so it's a bit of a head scratcher. What's the difference?

Improv. hst's are more fun....

Well, for one, these hst's are very freeform and there is absolutely zero stress over what size they turn out to be. They will be gleefully chopped into submission however best that needs to happen. And these fabrics are fun. I feel lighter already. Funny how new starts will do that to you. I obviously have no shame....

Feel free to hop on over to the AHIQ post post to read more about these two quilts and other projects our group is working on!

Patchwork Doodle Is a Done Deal

Had to keep this one back until it was safely delivered to the birthday girl! My oldest daughter said from the moment she saw this quilt on the wall, 'Mom, this one's mine!' I don't think it even had any leaves on the improv. circles yet, and so honestly, I was a bit dubious.

Got it made just in time!

Not having a clue where the quilt was headed myself, how could she be so certain it was going to turn out to be something special? But she never wavered and in fact, always insisted that the quilt needed words too before it would be properly finished. Being the stubborn sort that I am, those words didn't get added until right at the point when the backing fabric was being figured out.

Patchwork Doodle with the new border work

The quilt just looked sadly out of proportion {not that I would have admitted it at the time of supposed quilt top completion} and seemed to be whining for some extra length. Please, pretty please with sugar on top? Well fine. If I was going to add a border top and bottom of the quilt, it might as well include words too! I considered a lot of different phrases like motivational ones, sweet and sappy, biblical etc. and finally settled on the first words to a Billy Joel song. It's something that I knew she would instantly recognize as it was once her very favorite song. Quilts and smiles always make for a winning combination in my book...

Still crushing on the freestyle circles and applique addition...

I stole some of the backing fabric that I had bought for the quilt and dug up the extra log cabin blocks that never made it into the quilt top. They were a smidge more narrow than the ones along the edges of the quilt, but oh well! Improv. leaves room for variation, right? The dark maroon strip was added for extra emphasis when things started looking a little mushy, the letters were hand drawn and then traced onto the chosen fabric. and all in all, I could just feel the energy in the quilt change for the better. It was a great feeling.

Some quilts are better with a song connection...

Except that I was hiding it from her that it was going to be finished for her birthday--was working in odd little bursts of time. Oh the mistakes I made!*sigh  It never ceases to amaze me that the more I hurry, the more 'oops' that happen. Me and that trusty seam ripper definitely became best friends for awhile. Thankfully this quilt is all about freestyle and improv. and so nothing is perfectly square. A little bit more wonkiness just blends in! Oddly enough, that really did help in just shaking off the irritation of getting the math wrong yet again and moving rapidly back to the point of making good forward progress.

Nothing is square or perfect...

It still feels really incredible to look at this completed quilt. It's so not ME and yet somehow it is. I know that this quilt was started on a whim one day {mostly a bad, don't care sort of mood} and that the color scheme was developed around the vintage yellow/purple/green and orange floral proudly displayed in the center of the quilt. It was a challenge. A big, scary, improv. challenge that felt almost unattainable {and a lot overwhelming}. Yet somehow it all came together anyway. I seriously doubt I would have ever attempted something similar without the perfect storm of events and elements that happened and/or were available for my creative mental purging on that specific day. Basically I had received some of the most shake-up-my-world sort of news that day and needed to get deeply immersed in a quilting project. Pronto.

A different sort of look than the usual!

Gotta love quilting as a therapy tool! It was a rough, very unimpressive start as most of my loyal readers know, but somehow turned out to be one of the most playful quilts I've ever finished. How does that even happen? As you can see, it was quilted very simply and then I added the echo hand quilting around the letters just because I adore the look. A stripped down approach and very little big stitch quilting, a little bit of sweating and a whole lot of wondering if the whole thing was ruined forever. How I dread machine quilting!*ughh  But why bother with a massive hand quilting effort when the fabric and funky patchwork were doing all the heavy lifting?

It's not the The Beatles but I think she loved it anyway....

So now you know what I've been working on for the last couple weeks in and around a bit of hand quilting and other odd bits of sewing you've seen. Just couldn't share it with you in case my daughter decided to check in with my quilting blog as she likes to do every couple months!

 Oh. And that annual church campout thing we do every Memorial Day Weekend for about 20 + years of our life? I loved seeing this quilt below every time I walked inside my camper this past weekend. Made me smile inside. Every. Single. Time. Taking a gorgeous quilt along on a dirty, off-in-the-woods camping trip just feels a bit illogical and well, luxurious! Why not?

Be still my heart....

But it's a lovely, lovely place to camp once we get there and get settled in. Especially when the weather was as good as we had it this year. Not a drop of rain! So many memories being made and now we're making them with the next generation. Loved seeing so many of my nieces and nephews having a blast this weekend doing all the things we did when we were their age.

Nieces and nephews at the high mountain lake

I've said it before and I'll say it again--one of the very best things about our campground is that there is zero cell service. NONE. Bye, bye social media! So what do you think the first thing we do once were back in the land of civilization and have had a proper shower? You're reading it right here in real time..... lol

The Mind Bending Patchwork Doodle

So this is the Improv. project I impulsively dove into back in January. It's score #4 in Sherri Lynn Wood's 'The Improv. Handbook for Modern Quilters', something I am very slowly trying to wade my through, chapter by chapter. Sherri has a lot to say about improv. of course, and one of the things that resonates the most with me is when she says it's important to learn to 'trust our process of self discovery'.

The Patchwork Doodle is a completed quilt top!

The 'Patchwork Doodle' focuses on working with one simple shape at a time and then moving on to another, all without planning beyond the row {or shape} currently being assembled. The idea being that inevitably, we will recognize a theme starting to develop. It's a bit of a mind bender and I confess to having to take lots of breaks with this quilt. This is not a process I feel super comfortable with {understatement of the year!} and yet it's one that I'm sure will help me in my journey to make ever more unique and interesting quilts.

Letting it sit and marinate...

Eventually I got to the point of almost having a firm idea of the end result, but then got hung up on the fact that it was turning out to be square. Not my favorite shape in a quilt and so I experimented with adding more negative space, thinking that would be an easy way to make the quilt longer. I even considered adding in another row of simple shapes. Everything I played with seemed to make the quilt less 'me', more pretentious or forced looking, perhaps even cold looking. Nope! Back to the squared quilt shape and yes, probably a more traditional look. Totally fine by me.

It's a completed quilt top as of late this afternoon and I definitely have some mixed feelings about the final result. On one hand, it feels amazing to reach this point. How did I get here from that odd start on the design wall? I'm guessing the process of 'self discovery'?*wink  Making all those little design decisions along the way really did eventually develop into a theme. Finally! Tough to recognize at first and it felt like I was wandering around in the dark an awful lot. Maybe this will work? Or that? Like I said, lot of breaks and marinating time involved in this project.

Playing with some negative space.

At some point I realized that incorporating applique and even those classic, quarter log cabin blocks into the quilt made all the difference in the world to how the quilt reflects my personality and vision back at me--no matter the new and different colorway used. Letting one design decision inform the next one is not altogether new to me, as most of you know, but this was a slightly different process and one that raised a lot of insecurities. Moving from one simple block to the next one without even the slightest idea of where I was headed, was hard. I had to consciously shut my brain off and just go with the flow of basically whatever popped into my head and whatever fabric felt right in my hand. Trust that no matter the decision made, it wouldn't be a deal breaker. New units could be added to the quilt, cut up and reassembled, or even scrapped, but that decision would not be made until after the sewing was done and even after I had a chance to see how they played with the previous units made.

To be honest, I don't think it would have worked except for the stack of fabric used was something I trusted. Yeah, it was different, but I already had a relationship with it! This may be the main disadvantage to working with prints instead of solids. The fact that you can't just randomly pull some blendy prints in specific color ranges and make something compelling. It takes a interesting stack of fabric to add depth and feeling to a quilt. The adding to or taking out over a period of time {however long that may be} is what creates a mood of sorts. This is the probably the biggest lesson learned since starting to work with improv. If there is a stack of fabric that has a story to tell, then I can more easily trust the design decisions necessary to grow a quilt. This is becoming an increasingly important part of the quilting process to me {no matter the method of implementation}, though maybe not so much to you. We all have our ways!

Draped over the railing

This particular stack included a vintage floral, a recycled mans shirt, various checks and plaids, modern prints, small novelty prints and even some oldish blendy fabrics from years deep in the stash totes. I've been working on expanding my ideas about which prints might play well together, trying to open up to and be braver about partnerships that would have scared me a couple years ago. The colors in this quilt were an odd blend, really a big challenge in lots of ways too, but seemed fascinating and intriguing all the same. Have you noticed that I like challenges? They pulled at me. Made me wonder. Maybe that's why it was easy to push them into an improv. quilt and see what happened.

Being intrigued made it easier to grab fabrics and just start cutting. Oh look! Don't these two fabrics look wonderful together? I took Sherri's advice and used a single cut of fabric for the negative space. Not something you often see in a quilt of mine, but it was necessary for this exercise. It made the quilt more cohesive--put less pressure on the prints to be well behaved!

Loving the bright corners!

Seriously, someday I'm gonna get braver about working with solids, but for now I'm having a ball challenging myself to work with various printed fabrics. Those mixed feelings about my quilt top? How about the way my quilt looks so very different from all the other Patchwork Doodle quilts? They're all wonderful looking with their strong, bold slices of solid fabrics. Why do I always have to march to my own drum? Did I even follow the exercises correctly? Maybe my quilt looks stupid.

One of the Patchwork Doodle quilts in the book.

Oh who cares! Some of the greatest quilts ever made have been completely unique to the world of quilting at the time they were made. The fact that my quilt turned out to be so different looking is actually a good thing. It's personal and unique. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. It means that I'm capable of inserting personal 'style' into a fixed process and not ending up with a carbon copy. It's called creativity. hehe  Believe you me, I'm just beyond relieved that there wasn't a whole pile of fabrics ending up in the garbage.*whew!

A major accomplishment, getting to this stage!

And my daughter has already laid claim to the quilt whenever it gets sandwiched and quilted. Which at this point in time means about two years from now? Hmmm... it seems I've taken another detour from my finish-more-than-I-start goals.....

Finally Some Improv. Progress

It's improv. time of the month again! I have three projects in the works, one of which I showed progress on the other day. It's down to the applique border work for my Improv. Big Basket quilt {made out of strings} and the quilt top probably won't be done till next month. Then I have this wonderful Patchwork Doodle I started back in January {pictured below}.

Starting Patchwork Doodle

It's Sherri Lynn Wood's Score #4 in the Improv. Handbook. A total departure for me color-wise and a complete mind puzzle as well. Sherri recommends improv. piecing various 'rows' of similar blocks and then starting a conversation from there. From everything I've found online {and in the book}, most people start breaking the quilt down from the row layout almost immediately. Other than sewing my two skinny purple and light green rectangle rows together {hiding in the middle behind the funky circle blocks} and then chopping them into bits, I'm still sticking with that initial row presentation thus far.

Starting to find a connection

After I sewed those new bits into longer, narrow columns, then I sandwiched them right between the circle blocks. It's a little more contemporary of a look than I am usually drawn too, but I like how they suddenly give those really skinny dark red strips at the top and bottom of the quilt something to resonate with. Thinking the quilt needed more orange, I found a leftover long strip of orange/white check fabric and then after putting it on the wall, thought, hmm... maybe if I sew some half square triangle blocks? And yep, that was the thing that finally got me feeling a personal connection to the quilt. Me and checks. Checks and me. It's just meant to be! Before that I was not feeling much love, honestly...

But then I had to play with whether or not the hst's needed to be at the top and bottom of the circles and/or if they looked better with a break between? Things like that. And also, it was after the hst's made an appearance that I could have {possibly} been found digging through my applique parts and pieces tote for bits of applique to test out. Something that just sort of happens by spontaneous combustion occasionally around here....

Decisions, decisions.....

Loving the quarter log cabin blocks lurking about the edge of the quilt {probably more than any other element in the entire quilt}, I decided to cut a million strips and make many, many more log cabin blocks. Definitely enough to surround the whole quilt. The rich, saturated look of those blocks seem very needful at this point in the quilts progression. That super, light green background fabric really plays havoc with whole tone of the quilt, plus I'm just not accustomed to working with these particular shades of yellow!

Loving these strips!

Ahh.. comfort zone, where art thou? And of course, I completely went beyond my design wall and had to start pinning finished blocks straight to the hard-as-a-rock sheetrock. Which by the way, is not as easy as it looks. The paint must be made of ceramic or something. I have got to do something about that wall before I lose my mind.

And now I can see the quilt potential more fully...

Anyway, with some strategic cutting and sewing yesterday, I was able to get the middle portion of the quilt ready for applique work. Next up will just be a matter of sewing the rows together and making it all fit together properly. Always fun stuff working with the larger units, but I have a floor and a kitchen table. lol

Ready for applique...

So then, onto the other AHIQ project: the coins. This is something I had drawn up months ago, but could never quite nail down the details of how to get started. When Ann presented the first coin challenge, I thought 'of course!'. In this particular project, I wanted something a little different for my 6"x8" sashing strips--more than just the traditional one-fabric thing. I dithered around for awhile over whether or not it fit in with a true 'coin' idea, but then became convinced that it was okay.

I have several older quilts made out of these same black/brown/gold/red tones, something I used to buy a lot of. It's really been a puzzler to me how to use some of these older fabrics up now that my tastes have changed so very much. Using them as the base of a quilt {here in these fun coin sections} seemed like the perfect solution. After that was finished, it took me almost no time at all to applique the largest piece of my proposed secondary blocks. And that's where I could finally get things up on the wall for a proper look-see.

First Coins audition

Is that secondary block thing timely or what? hehe  But of course, no matter how much I thought this idea would look wonderful in my own imagination, the reality is oft times different. Queue the disappointment. The blue plumes idea is just a bit too fussy. In the pic below, I took off the extra three circles from under the applique piece and stuck one little circle over the top of several others {will not be able to have plumes on the topmost applique blocks so am looking for a solution there as well}.

Playing with some details

It's all just a bit too blah. So disappointing as I was envisioning something serene with an element of cozy, not straight up boring.*sigh  A bit of contrast color might be needed? This madder red print has an energy in the print without being too shockingly different and it definitely pops. I kinda like that.

Trying to find a spark

 And I like this bit of red/cream plaid added as well. It has a folky charm that is always appealing to me. But believe it or not, I never, ever intended for these shapes to present as 'hearts'.  It's almost too much!

Veering off in a different direction

Those heart shapes were supposed to be part of a much larger picture! I decided to take the additional applique thing onto the blue heart blocks one step further, by adding a green leaf. So primitive and country, which I do like, but well, I finally found my limit. Absolutely a NO. Just too cutesy for words. And so now I find myself questioning every bit of it. Time to strip everything down and start over from scratch. Maybe even let things simmer out of sight for a few days.

And finally deciding enough is enough. Time to start over!

The thing is, I have to make a decision about the applique before I actually sew rows together. Any overlap applique sewing becomes very complicated the larger the sewing surface. If the quilt top can be sewn into say, three sections, then it will be much easier to manhandle while I'm doing the applique work! Yep. It's a real conundrum at this point. So glad I sewed the coin sets together though as that's the part I still find very interesting. There is a deep fondness within for make-do piecing that I'm actively trying to find ways to incorporate into new quilting projects. It's a challenge. We'll see what another month of play can produce!

Linking up with:

• Kaja and Ann for AHIQ #20
• and also Linda for Snip, Stitch, Snap and Share because the timing is just too perfect!

The Green Floating Squares Experiment

I've been plowing through the floating squares quilt as it is a very messy project. Working on this sort of quilt just sort of takes over the quilt room! And wowsers, late yesterday evening I was rewarded with a finished quilt top. Minus a bit of trimming of course.

Floating Squares quilt top

All along I kept auditioning fabrics and trying to 'look ahead'. It really helps me to not give up and just throw it all back in a bin, always very tempting to me. This style of quilting is just crazy awkward to me!

I so wanted to keep on using the oldish bits of green fabrics from the very bottom of the tote and except for about three or fabrics, every single fabric in this quilt has been with me for at least two plus years! One fabric in particular, the dark green polka dot, was bought between 1993-1995. So amazing that I didn't already get rid of it and why not, you may ask? Our income has been a fluctuating thing through the years. I do not get rid of fabric easily or well. There is this very real fear of fabric deprivation you know!*wink

All the blocks on the wall, auditioning fabric....

You might also think that I stole some blue for this quilt, but believe me when I say those fabrics were in the green tote as well. You know how some fabrics look green or blue depending on what they're lying next too? These are those kinds of fabrics and they always ended up back in the green tote because they look more green than blue. {Unless of course they're in a green quilt!} I will admit to making one more intensely thorough search through the green tote though. And that's where I found the brighter/bluer greens that seem to wake up the more boring greens. The first time through, I thought they were too brassy to be included.

Playing with a bit of pink

And at some point I decided to break my own rules and add a spot of another color {pink}. I didn't want to introduce too much, but it just seemed to be crying out for a bit of spark. Red was considered too, but it always shrieks 'Christmas' to me unless done very carefully. haha  Does this look like a careful quilt?

Sewing rows and deciding on placement....

As I worked through sewing the rows together, occasionally I had to make a square a bit longer. I just added a skinnier strip of fabric to extend the length and then put the pink right at the end. Kind of a cornerstone, but not exactly. I was going to do this for every single short block and then decided, no, a little pink goes a long way. Instantly, I could see the pink was going to be a perfect addition in very small doses.

One row at a time

I had to force myself to keep using all the ugly greens and not just pitch them aside. One of the things I admire most about the Gee's Bend style/make-do and utilitarian type quilts is the fact that the makers are very courageous about blending fabrics. So very bold and unapologetic. The unexpectedness of some of these extremely different fabrics being used  in the very same quilt {even side by side} always makes me smile, but when it comes to my own work? Totally different story! In this quilt I managed to use an old, (ugly) floral batik, an 80's style calico with pink roses, that hideous dark green/cream polka dot, and even a cactus print that I'm positive was given to me. I would never, ever have bought that!

 There are things already apparent to me that could have been done differently. For instance, I wish I had been more careful in how the horizontal strips of green were staggered. A slightly better placing could have possibly allowed the quilt to have better flow and movement. But it's done, I have to feel good about that. And the fact that it looks interesting to me {there on the wall} when I walk around the corner into my quilt room--success of some sort, don't you think? Linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday!

Hey, Whatever Works....

First there were four Vintage Red blocks and now there are eight. That means I'm either half through with them or maybe a third? Depends on how many I decide to make. They are super easy to stitch, but I have to take a break and switch them out with something else or I will probably go insane.

Vintage Red blocks on the wall

It could be that I'm already there. We all live in our own little reality don't we? lol  I worked on the Floating Squares score over the weekend and looky, looky....  I am making them into blocks again.*sigh  It is the only thing that makes sense to me so I finally quit fighting it and just continued on my merry way. It actually feels more comfortable this time around and I am thinking it must be the all green theme plus using my older fabrics.

Floating Squares in the works....

There is only one or two fabrics in the whole mix that I would love to have a bit leftover for working into other projects. Every other one could completely be used up and I'd only cheer! That does cut down on the 'what if I totally screw this up' factor which makes me more ambivalent about the outcome too. Not such a great feeling when hello? I'm putting my time into a quilt that I feel 'ambivalent' about? So I'm sorting through all those emotions and forging ahead anyway because I think I might actually be learning something. These blocks look okay, bad and terrible and yet, they seem to be getting slightly better with practice? Slightly more wonky even if only I can see the difference.

There's another very odd thing happening during the time I'm working with these mostly old, really tired fabrics. I am digging and pawing my way through the fabrics totes during short {okay, it's really quite longish} breaks and thinking/dreaming up new and wonderful future projects. What's up with that?

The Floating Squares Quilt and A Roundabout Way of Getting Inspired

I've been in a little bit of a funky, funk lately. Summer blues? Who really knows, but the fact is, while I'm piddling away on all my many applique projects (which I still love), I'm a bit bored. And lethargic. So I'm taking a kind of side step in the hopes of challenging my brain to wake up, not that I'm giving up the applique projects. Heaven forbid!

My Quilty Chaos quilt

A lot of little things led to this idea of mine. It usually works that way with me. Sort of a trickle down, pile it up effect. First of all, the quilt above. While we were having a boat load of company a couple weekends ago, my oldest daughter dug out this quilt and piled it on top of the little nest she makes whenever her bedroom's been taken over by our guests. It's one I worked on over a year ago for Sherri Lynn Wood's Improv. Handbook as one of the test quilters. I graded it as a big fat fail at the time, but now I'm starting to see things to actually like about it. Things that might help me get somewhere in that never ending 'personal style' quest that I seem to be on all the time.

I did buy Sherri's book recently, but I can't seem to read it. My brain kind of freezes at all the design terminology and says 'Hey! NOT imputing up here!' Anne talked recently about studying this book, working her way through the scores, {such a great idea} and then made a fun version of this same floating squares score. In an email conversation, she mentioned Stephie's version and of course I had to go take a look at that too. Wowsers, I do so admire their courage with fabric and color! Also, thanks to Lynne, I've had this interesting idea of making single color quilts from fabric that's languishing way deep in the stash. It may not be our favorite fabric today, but it's definitely worth hacking into, right? And I do so adore a frugal make-do sort of quilt.....

The first units

Oh yeah. So with all that tumbling through my busy, summer-drained, but mildly interested brain, I decided to revisit this particular experiment. Why did I think it was a fail exactly? Because there are definitely elements of this quilt that I rather like, in spite of everything I don't! Okay. For starters, the process was, to put it bluntly, quite terrifying to me. With a capital T. Very un-orderly with absolutely no clear vision of the end result. I'm not always a big fan, no matter how adventuresome you might think I am. It felt like white-knuckled winter driving to me.

Putting them together into blocks and auditioning other fabrics

I literally had to push, prod and make myself get through the process. Friends, it wasn't the least bit fun until I finally had a kind of breakthrough, allowing myself to set a few boundaries, cheat on a couple of the 'limits' and finally decide on a finishing-up plan. How improv. is that?

Settling on a design layout and where the block overlap should be....

I admit to loving the learning how to sew gentle curves and getting the chunky, funky blocks together into something less than straight line rows. That was the very best part. Because I am soooo lame. And why did I put the improv. units into blocks anyway? That still bothers me even though it's probably my default  position and the only way I could get through what felt like absolute chaos.

Learning how to cut and sew gentle curves...

But who cares if they're being lame when something starts getting fun? Just take a rotary cutter and roll it through both layers in a gentle motion, going in where the blocks go in and trying to be very organic about it all. Sew it together slowly and bingo! We've got curves! Something to store away in that bag of quilting skills we pack around. Try as I may, I had never quite got the hang of it before....

Playing with exactly where the curve should be....

I used my entire design wall and a little extra, trying to make sure the quilt was always laying flat, flat, flat. Honestly, it was the first time I was almost bitter about not having a real, honest-to-goodness sized design wall!

Starting to sew the quilt top together....

I sewed up those short, 4-block rows into a big square and then added on the others sides until Ta-da! A quilt top with raggedy edges. Which I didn't know what to do with AT ALL. Why chop off all the edges into perfectly straight cornered quilt with so much quilty chaos going on inside? I didn't want my quilt to hang completely wonky and look unkempt. {Remember, I generally make fairly traditional looking quilts and this was painful to see.}

This was another frightening moment, with me actually perspiring and getting a headache, until I made the decision to add on a solid border. Just cage it all in. {Refer to the first picture in the post.} Which again, sort of defeats the idea of WooHoo! Look at me, I'm sewing Improv. style! But it really did help me so very much to come to terms with getting an actual finish in. That felt huge even though I was pretty sure Sherri would not approve. I quickly forgave myself for imagined shortcomings and made the deadline, knowing it would never be chosen for the book.*sigh

One big quilt top, minus the border that hopped on...

It's so hard to learn new things--the anxiety, fear, almost physical drag that we feel on our body in making the attempt. Stepping out into the unknown and pushing through.*whew  I felt pretty wrung out and yes, a bit exhilarated too, believe it or not. Because I did finish. I pushed through something that felt nearly impossible for my very structured, creatively challenged brain to absorb and comprehend.

Then I left it alone except for some of that gentle curve stuff. Such a good feeling to have a good, solid grasp on that particular process at least!

My first hunt for long forgotten greens....

And now I'm thinking about doing my own sort of series, which I always find challenging and interesting no matter how appalling my fabric choices. I'm going to start out with Score #1 in 'The Improv. Handbook for Modern Quilters: A Guide to Creating, Quilting, and Living Courageously'. haha  Except for the word 'Modern', the title could have been written for me. And yes, that's the Floating Squares score. Again. Only this time done in greens from the very bottom of the big green tote. {Some of these lovelies have probably been in there since the late 90's in case you were wondering.}

Adding a bit of spark....

Maybe a bit more of the sparky greens to help? Yep, that already appears more lively even though it's utterly safe and bland looking. It's feels like a very comfortable starting point, just saying. And I need to get started. There's been something nagging away at me lately that makes me feel like this experimentation is very necessary for my continued growth as a quilter. Does that make sense? Truly, I feel better already just for having a plan to purposely hack away at some fabric. Especially because none of it's important enough to make me cry if perchance it gets ruined in the process! And don't worry. I'll play with the good stuff at a later date. A big thanks to everyone who helped inspire me in this series as it already feels fun and not nearly as scary-hairy as the last go-round. *Nobody paid me to try and persuade you to buy this book....