Probably Not My Best Work, But Having Fun Anyway

It's Ahoc. Improv. time again and I am still 'playing with scale'. It's gotten a little out of hand as you can see. So chaotic it's almost to give me a headache, but well..., there's maybe? possibly? a vintage vibe trying to peak through.

Trying to decide if the large blocks are a 'go'

I went ahead and ripped the blue tabs off the centerpiece. Oooh, that's much, much better. Thought that might happen, but when I decided on the big blocks, it was time for the tabs to go. Then I went ahead and added some blue back into some of the blocks. All the fabrics as a whole are so mellow and sweet {truly}, but in this particular grouping of blocks, the energy is practically surging. There was definitely an attempt to get value changes wherever possible {you know me!}, but I tried very hard to keep green in every block for unity. Or something important like that. Somehow it just didn't quite do the trick like I wanted and needed it too. So much for using up bits and pieces of a million fat quarters and expecting to get something that looks like background.

Laying out the blocks....

So yeah. This is not exactly what I set out to do, but of course, there are always deviations and distractions, quirks and surprises when working improv. At least in my quilting room. Guess I can't say for sure about yours! Can I calm things down with a strippy border around the centerpiece?

Considering other options...

Nah... Not working for me in any of the colors auditioned, tho deep red was the best bet. I do like the light pink and dark brown strippy inset border there on the bottom though. Maybe if I repeat that on the top of the quilt, just one row into the quilt? I threw these leftovers into a rough looking row just to 'see'. There's nothing quite like having it right in front of us to help make up our wishy, washy minds.

Probably not....

And the railroad tracks border idea was definitely intriguing, but just too much, too much. Can't handle all this strong 'look at me stuff!' And now I'm back to the strippy bars border minus one row of blocks for the length of the quilt. It's a really busy look, but somehow ties everything together regardless. Not a design to win any awards, but it will still probably keep someone nice and warm some day in the future.

Maybe a yes....

We have been gone several days in a row and there has been lots of craziness going on since we returned. This was farther than I expected to get today, but still not nearly far enough to satisfy. When the middle of the living room floor is the only design wall that's big enough to work with, time for auditioning becomes very limited. As it was, I had several of my family carefully walking across the quilt blocks. What to do? Once it's picked up, then it's who knows how long till there's another opportunity. So be it.

I did go ahead and start sewing rows of the quilt together tonight, randomly turning quilt blocks in a different direction when I got the urge. It was annoying to me that they were all placed so purposefully in a 'weave' pattern--that carefulness was the unintended result of hurrying to move things off the floor. I prefer a bit more randomness, but it might be too late to make it happen. 

Hoping to lay it all out once again with enough of the strippy lt. pink and brown border sewn to make a difference.  Wish you could see the true colors of this quilt--it's not nearly as mushy looking at it looks in all these horrid pictures! This project has been fairly mindless, surprisingly fun and also, really good to get rid of {more} sage green fabrics stock piled so many years ago. What was I thinking? There's nothing wrong with working with the old and languishing when we're focused on design possibilities, right? And it's always good to practice with the pieces we won't cry over if we mess up too terribly. Linking up with Kaja and Ann for AHIQ #32! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to catch up on the emails and blogging comments too...

Circles, circles and more circles....

Ahem. Well, it appears that I don't have a problem with appliqueing circles anymore. Just needed a different format? lol

Improv. Woven Basket quilt

I present to you the proof. Here are 28 circle-y type flowers {including 28 roundish circle-y centers} that I worked on. All. Weekend. Long. Cut, cut, stitch, stitch. Who knew? I'm thinking it was the colors that drew me in for a great big 'ol quilty hug, 'cuz I just didn't wanna quit. You know how it is when the driving 'need-to-see-the-results' overcome the logic.*wink

Finding My Way With Another Improv. Sort of Quilt

As always, I'm not sure what I'm doing or where I'm supposed to be going with this Adhoc. Improv. thing. It seems to pull me down some interesting roads though! This is the second effort with improv. strings and I have yet another project I'm quite desperately wanting to dive into. It never ends. First things first though!

The centerpiece coming together

Auditioning the layout for this quilt was a very quick event. No matter which way I turned the blocks to check out various sashing pieces and layout options, I promptly flipped the blocks back to the 'hills' facing downward. That is the way they want to be and that is that! Having the sashing running both horizontal and vertical  made everything look busy to my very fussy eye. I also immediately tossed out all the darker, brighter reds in favor of this red homespun check. Either I'm getting more confident or this quilt is quite, quite determined to be made a specific way!

Looking at the unfinished border piece facing toward the quilt

It's a fairly simple serene looking quilt and too much of anything easily makes it look overdone to me. I'm still scratching my head in wonderment, but the border-work is completely the thing for me. It makes the quilt almost make sense in a weird sort of way and I just nod my head and say 'Yes, this is it, exactly what it needs!' Any of this making sense to you?

In fact, I cut the border pieces out on a late evening after some very busy {and possibly stressful, haha} days and made a bad cutting mistake. All my border background pieces are approximately 1 1/2" too short. I just wanted to pull out my hair. How could that have happened?  But... I like the fabric choices so well, I just unpicked the two checked sashing pieces and made them slightly more narrow. Just a bit, because I'm also going to trim just a smidge off the outside of the quilt. The border pieces shall remain the same because 'they work'. And I don't even know why or care. It just is.

And facing away....

And there's more of these chunky crossroad blocks happening too. I'm now at the 3/4 mark with these and still enjoying them very much.

More chunky crossroads blocks

Hopefully by next months Adhoc. linkup I'll have all 100 of them sewn, trimmed and be looking at layout options. One can hope. It's been a busy spring with no sign of let-up..... Linking up with Ann and Kaja. 

A Giveaway Winner and a Little Bit of Hand Work

It's time to announce the winner of a very successful Giveaway! Lori Smanski, you are the winner of Scrap Secrets! Yay! I'll be sending out an email shortly so I can get your contact information. Lots of interesting comments about what or what might not make up a 'scrap' quilt to a specific individual!

Getting closer to having the border finished!

I've been sewing circles onto my gold and pink improv. quilt now for days. I must really, really like circles because there are 96 of them to stitch before all the flowers are complete! It's making me a bit dizzy.*wink

A quick re-do

And I had to take all the green leaves off of my Citrus Squeeze quilt {will have to be renaming this one eventually}. Thankfully they weren't stitched yet. I had a common issue that needed to be resolved. After getting all the leaves pinned onto the quilt I decided that they really needed to be the size they are with the seam allowance not yet stitched down. Have you ever done that? Believe me, it happens ALL the time around here. Sometimes a couple times in a row. And now you why I have an overflowing applique parts and pieces totes.....

February AHIQ Play

For some reason I experience a lot of resistance to starting my 'improv.' quilt projects. Yeah, yeah, I wing it all the time with applique, but that's different. Applique improv. is easy peasy.*wink  So even with lots of ideas percolating in my brain considering future improv. ideas {including three current stacks of wonderful-to-me fabric blends}, I pulled a brand new stack of fabric and did something completely different.

The first four

For the moment, I feel that boundaries are needful to me. A starting point and perhaps something I can 'see' will truly come together. A promise of success. So I returned again to Sujata Shah's 'Cultural Fusion' book. I love how she gives you the plan and then tells you to make it your way. My kind of thinking.

I've been wanting to make some chunky looking crossroad blocks for awhile now. Obviously. They've been simmering in the back of my brain {taunting me} and every now and then I see them flash across my vision like a mirage. Here and then, poof! they're gone. I see them a little bit wonky and LOVE that they aren't perfect--will never match up in a million years. But I never really did the work of figuring out how to make them. Or even look for patterns. There are so many quilty ideas floating around in my brain, who can keep track?

Looking at 12 blocks already!

Turns out I don't have to. In a maybe, what-if I look in the Cultural Fusion book? I found pure gold for this months AHIQ. On a different note, what really, really does need to happen is for me to learn how to follow a pattern correctly. I 'get it' and then as you see below, promptly forget it. Maybe I'm a visual learner? Huh. Probably 'hands on' judging by how often this happens.*sigh

Whoops!

Thankfully these are sewn together in sets of four. I might have given up if I'd already sewn all 100 squares that are cut out for the quilt! And I could feel myself relaxing by the third set of blocks. Whew!!! Wondering about cutting a curvier line, getting excited about the slight wonkiness I was achieving so easily. This is good stuff. No guilt here about starting yet another project. And I am using good fabric for this project. Really dug deep and used {mostly} fabric that I love. Fabric that I'm curious about--with colors that speak to me right now. I'm excited. Only 88 blocks left to go....

Linking up to Ann and Kaja  for the February AHIQ!

Another Play With Improv.

I'm sure you've heard it before, but I've got to say it again. I'm simply terrible at keeping up with BOM's, Linky Party's and QAL's. Please don't take offense if you have one I keep skipping. And what beautiful irony that I have my own monthly linky party going on around here at the first of every month! Oh the laughter that has caused me a time or two, as I'm sure you can guess.

The Ugly Quilt

The one thing {other than my daily circles} that I determined to make sure and keep up with was Ann and Kaja's AHIQ series. No matter what. So yesterday and today found me sewing up a storm. I wanted to finish up with my improv. string borders on the Ugly quilt especially. 

When sewing the strings together, I just matched up two longs sides and sewed, no extra cutting for curves etc. Then, when I had about six brown and pink strings sewn together, I added in a red string. That string was laid face to face with a brown or pink string set and then cut {freehand} to the curve. Next, I added another brown/pink string set, cutting to the curve to match up to that previous red string, and on and on I went. It seemed to help 'straighten' the border and also add some interesting wonkiness. This all feels very new and 'modern', but really, this is a very old style/design in quilting. Making the border in these comfy colors really emphasizes the vintage make-do look for me. I can totally see this quilt hanging out on my couch some day in the future!

No fancy corners for this quilt!

So then I jumped to these crumb/improv. blocks from the scrap bin. A couple weeks ago I had pieced the blocks together in sets of four with a light colored striped fabric. There was a plan of sorts. I really liked the 'glow' that was slowly emerging, but then somehow I ruined it by adding in too much brown. That's a tendency I have when it comes to brown, using too much, but I continued on with what was pre-determined. Honestly, I think my brain was on auto-pilot or something because I wasn't really thinking about anything but getting it done.

Improv. Squares with first short sashing strips

The plan was to add long brown sashing with the shorter brown strips {picture below}, but this just immediately set my nerves jangling. I mean the very second I put them on the wall! Waaay too contemporary of a look for me. I couldn't get the long strips off the wall fast enough. And then I was stalled. Duh.... Time to wake up and pay attention! With the idea of sashing still in my brain, I considered using a lighter colored fabric in place of the brown {looking at the picture above sort of gives the illusion of that}.

Adding the long sashing strips

Then I stepped back from the wall and gave it all a very long look. Hmm....  What if? And so yes, I squished all the rows together and gave that a good look. And I'm liking this very well indeed. Not exactly what I was expecting out of these blocks, but still... It's sort of interesting in a scrap bag kinda way.

And then taking them away

There are still three more rows to add onto this quilt, and it's only about 42" wide--much too small to call it quits. For now I'm leaving it on the wall and looking at it every time I walk through. It's not my normal style of quilting and yet I'm absurdly pleased with it now that all the rows are cozied up together. 

I'd like to think I'm opening up to the idea of what Improv. might be. A What If sort of conversation that is really just an extension of what I've been trying to do for the last couple years. And I'm not done with strings either. I had a great idea pop into my head just the other night. Maybe next month I can actually find the time to explore where my brain is going with those.... Time to link up with Kaja and Ann's January AHIQ!

A Little Bit of Adhoc Improv. Quilting!

So.., big step for me with Improv. I actually cut into good pieces of fabric, not oldy moldies at the bottom of the stash totes! It seemed easier to go the 'baby quilt' route for my first time. Lesson the panic a bit and work on a smaller scale.

The initial stack of fabric. Later on I added more blue and some yellow

I used Sujata Shah's 'Cultural Fusion Quilts' to make wonky looking flying geese {she calls them tipsy triangles}. First I cut 6" squares with a ruler, then I started making my free form blocks, cutting and re-stacking as the directions state. Love that her book makes it easy to find directions for making units, learning the process, instead of having to wade through specific quilt directions for everything.

Getting started with the free form part....

Eventually I ended up with stacks of free looking hourglass units. I've been looking at these in her book for months {for another project} and just couldn't quite bring myself to cut into the fabric. This little baby quilt was an excellent trial run. I love some of the hourglass units and others, not so much. It obviously depends on how gentle or steep a curve you cut. Something to think about!

Free looking hourglass units

On to the trimming. How I do hate thee....! It's just so tedious. I wanted to run screaming from the room, really I did. But... lots of breaks over a period of a couple days and finally it was all done and out of the way. And though I'm not a big fan of waste, what was leftover seemed very reasonable.

Trimming, trimming, trimming, trimming, trimming.....

Finally I ended up with my wonky geese units. Exactly what I was wanting! Sujata suggests mixing up the squares in order to end up with a more interesting blend of fabrics. I thought about it, but in the end played it very safe as I really wanted a calmer arrangement of geese {lots of repeats} for this particular quilt.

Wonky geese on the wall

Eventually I found my way to this fun little arrangement on my wall! This is only the first layout audition, so it's not exactly set in stone yet. There are about 40 geese that still need to find their way into the quilt and of course those oddball geese with the wrong color backgrounds need to find a home as well. When it's actually sewn together, there will be many, many points disappearing, but I think that's one of the charming things about this style of quilt. Ahh... Sujata, you don't disappoint! The directions are very clear with lots of pictures, something that I for one, rather appreciate. My brain doesn't always compute well with the way people explain things!

The beginnings of a baby quilt

Then I jumped over to these little units made from my scrap bin. I'm starting to get an idea about how they need to be joined together.

Scrappy improv. units

I cut some 1 1/4" strips in a light colored fabric that will hopefully help make these blocks 'glow' a bit. It's not something I focus on very often, but when I see it happening almost by accident, it's time to take advantage!

The new unit

And last but not least, here's the last Adhoc Improv. arrangement all put together and ready for pinning. The vintage block has a little bit of rust staining and the basket wasn't hand stitched very well. Keeping it small means I can use it for a wall hanging--still enjoy my efforts without stressing over how well it will hold up to normal wear and tear.

Vintage Basket quilt

Somewhere along the line I decided it was perfectly acceptable to have two different quilts being hand quilted at the same time {two different hoops of course}. I can still hardly fathom why and how this came to be, but apparently this is my new 'normal'. Check me for a fever....

Linking up with Kaja and Ann today for lots of Adhoc Improv. fun! 

Always a Basket or Two Around Here....

I've been steadily stitching these basket handles down, one little piece at a time. First the inside curve, then the outside. One after another they slowly stack up.

What's in my applique bag....

It helps fill the time while I'm helping out with an aunt who had a stroke about two weeks ago. She might think I'm crazy, but she never says it out loud. I don't think she quite understands my quilting passion though.

Working through a stack of basket handles....

It looks like about three quarters of them are done now, but I haven't counted. There's only 56 {total} of them and I'd like to be surprised when the last one pops out of the bag. It might be time to make sure there's another applique project prepped and ready to go along with this one. You know, just in case. There's nothing more devastating than having time on your hands and nothing left to stitch.*wink

What's on my design wall...

And this is what's been hanging out on my design wall. Still. The pieces are slowly coming together. So I guess that means I've made a decision to keep it? I think some things are just too intriguing to let go. But I might have to fix the right {chopped off} hst's by the basket. I was trying to sort of 'line up' the half square triangles. Now I'm thinking it's too forced for this style of quilt. Hmm....

Struggling With a Different Process

I need to approach what I'm doing from another angle occasionally. Have a different starting point and look at things from a fresh viewpoint. I guess that's why Kaja and Ann's AHIQ series is so interesting to me.

My starting squares

I really thought this improv. attempt would be about strings, but no. I took my long narrow strips of leftover cream backing fabric and started cutting them into random sized squares--large and small. Then I took some older pieces of blue fabric and did the same. All my cutting was made without rulers so the square sizes are all over the place.

Then, feeling faintly guilty {because this did not feel like true improv.}, I sewed them into half square triangles the efficient way. I did NOT mark the center lines though. It was all sort of eyeballed and so yes, some hst's are a bit more on the rectangular side than square. When I cut them apart between the sewing lines, I used my scissors and roughly cut off the extra fabric if one or two sides needed trimmed.

Doing what makes sense...

Then I ironed the hst's open and started lining them up on the wall. I played with them going in different directions and then went to bed. I was feeling sort of let down and yes, confused about how to go forward.

For clarity, I want you to know that these are the 'rules' I started out with:

• Only use fabric on hand, the older the better
• Cut entirely without rulers
• Start with one basic shape
• Only use 1-2 colors of fabric to begin with
• No 'finished quilt' planning allowed
• What if, What if, What if?

A starting point

Today I decided to play with the idea of an old fashioned 'utility' style sawtooth quilt. It wasn't doing it for me though.

Where my brain takes me....

I went back to my basic mass-of-wonky-triangles and changed up the row by fabric print. Much too subtle to make any significant difference.

A subtle change....

Then I introduced some brown strips. Thought about using red, but ughh! This does not need to be a red/white and blue quilt in order for me to appreciate it.

Adding strips

 I rather liked where it was going with less strips....

Maybe less?

But still... What exactly am I trying to achieve here? What is improv. exactly? Sherri Lynn Wood has this to say about the subject 'improv is a process of discovery. More specifically self discovery.' 

Then she mentions that 'It's a practice of being present'. So I'm thinking, what is it exactly that makes me feel connected to these wonky hst's? Those feel like me somehow. But it doesn't look, smell or act like what I've seen called improv. The fabrics are old fashioned and non-improvvy looking. You and I both know it's not the least bit bold, bright and splashy looking! I'm pretty sure this is exactly the kind of structure that will help me with my quilting and yet I'm struggling to find a true connection between what I do now and what I {vaguely} know needs to happen to some of my future quilting. I really feel that my {quilting} voice needs some of this whimsy occasionally, this old fashioned utility quilt style of I-don't-care-about-the-rules. Why oh why is so hard to go back to this style of sewing, when you've proved you can match up all your points and keep everything square and plumb?

Just seeing hst's, that's all....

I kept thinking of what Kaja said about taking a simple shape and seeing where it leads you. And so I kept playing. Until I came up with this: using the wonky hst's to frame a vintage basket block. Doesn't this look more like me already? I'm starting to feel present already.

A personal connection....

Will I keep it? Sew it together and call it my own? I'm not sure. These hst's may just be for playing and waking up my brain, saying what if? Right now the plan is to leave it up on the wall and keep looking at it. I feel like I jumped a major hurdle today and melded some different ideas together in a way that yes, I feel very connected to. Is it truly improv.? You tell me. It definitely feels more like a self discovery than a copykat improv. session! Linking up to AHIQ today. How about you?

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?