Improv Quilting

At the last London Modern Quilt Guild meeting Shevvy talked to us about Improv Quilting. When quilting this is how I like to work, I like to make things up as I go along, swap and change things around and be led by the fabric and colours rather than make several identical blocks. I like to have movement within a quilt, to have different piecing throughout and I love the appearance of a random layout, though this actually takes a lot of thought and playing around.

I'm working on this Improv Quilt at the moment, I used only red, bright pink and white fabrics and tried to keep it simple and random. It just needs binding so hopefully I'll be able to show it to you soon.

The quilters that inspire me the most are the ones that have their own style and put together quilts in an original and interesting way. Ashley at Film In The Fridge is one of my favourite quilters, her quilts are all so different and she has a wonderful way of using colour and creating interesting designs with fabric.

This one, Cascading Pools has a wonderful balance of colour and neutral spaces. Have a look at her blog, you'll be inspired.

Lu Summers is another inspiration when it comes to improv quilts, her book Quilt Improv is packed with blocks, tips and inspiration to get you started. Remember this one? It's one of my favourite quilts.

I've put together a mosaic of some Improv quilts that are inspiring. I think I'm going to have to try some improv curves, these ones look so good!

Click on the links to see who made these -

1. Assembly, 2. Improv. Blocks, 3. improv curve mini quilt, 4. wool improv quilt, 5. Keeping Eden, 6. add a border plus plus, 7. "Up Down" Quilt with Facing Finish - Detail, 8. Improv / free form quilt block number 5, 9. Quiet improv quilt

Shevvy talked about how some of her Improv quilts have grown from the desire to use up her scraps, tiny as many of them are. Shevvy pieces them together, sometimes chops them up again, mixes them with solids and plays around with colour and design until she's got a quilt she's happy with, there are many examples on her Flickr page. I got a bundle of her tiny triangle scraps at the last meeting and my challenge was to make a block with them.

This is what I came up with, I tried not to overthink it and just added a few rectangles to these tiny triangles that were mostly pieced together. I'm not mad about the finished block, it's too busy for my taste, but I absolutely loved the process and trying something new. 

Voyage Quilt

Before I dashed off on summer adventures with the family I finished this quilt, 'Voyage'.

I'm super thrilled with this one, the coloured panels are handprinted with my designs and the background fabric is Eclectic Elements, 'Documentaion' by Tim Holtz, a wonderful print of old receipts, travel documents, tickets etc 

I added curved corners to the coloured rectangles, I love the softness it brings to the design, these was easier to sew than I had expected too.

  

The quilting is mostly straight(ish) lines by machine. I couldn't resist doing a few extra lines by hand with perle thread, using colours to compliment the rectangles. If I had more time I would hand quilt all my quilts, it adds such great depth to the finish.

I had a deadline looming though (always the way), I made this quilt as my contribution to the London Modern Quilt Guild's stand at the Festival Of Quilts this August. 

It was so exciting to see it there, alongside so many inspiring quilts. It was a wonderful opportunity to have a really good look at fellow members quilts too, there was such diversity within our stand.

I am filled with enthusiasm and lots of ideas for new quilts, though I am reminding myself that I still haven't finished the two quilts I started for my girls last September. One of them is three quarters quilted, the other still to be basted... and Winter is coming. I am going to have to hold back and crack on with these before I start something new, or at least that is the plan. 

making progress

A teeny bit of sewing has been going on. I made a couple of Mo Blocks for Danielle's Can't Grow A Mo Sew A Mo charity quilt, you still have a week or so to make your blocks and get them to her if you want to join in.

I am making slow progress on my hexies, I'm not loving this, it will probably look alright once it's quilted. 

My heart is just not in it. Do you ever get like that during a project? Just fall out of love with it and wish you were doing the next project in your head?

I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't start something new until the old project was finished.

Must. Stick. To. It.

If you haven't already entered, the LMQG is hosting a fabric giveaway, thanks to Ray Stitch. Giveaway closes on the 22nd. Go!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

quilts and friends

Remember a while ago I showed you this mini quilt? It is now hanging up in the LMQG exhibition in the Brasserie (third floor) of John Lewis, Oxford Street. 

Don't they look great! I love that they are all so different and represent so many aspects of modern quilting.

I took the girls along to see them (and feel very proud and excited) and finally met up with my bloggy friend Flaming Nora, with the intention of having a proper grown up and civilised chat about sewing and crafty stuff. However four over excited children kept us on toes and I came away feeling like I hadly spoke to her, which always seems to be the way with little ones around.

It was great to put a person to the blog and Jane is exactly as I imagined, larger than life, funny and juggling more crazy projects than you can imagine. Generous too, she brought me this great notebook (gotta love a stamp) and a bag of scraps - you can never have too many... hooray! 

We all had a great day and Missy Big took a shine to the Ginger Ninja, I'm quite sure I saw her pinch his bum before we left... 

a thoroughly modern mini

We have a monthly challenge at the LMQG, this month saw us all try our hardest, to make a 12" square mini quilt that represents what Modern Quilting means to us. 12 of them will be exhibited in the Bistro at John Lewis, (a large department store) in Oxford Street throughout June.

Yep, we all pulled out all the stops for this one. It's going to be hard to choose which ones to vote for though.

This is my entry, and I'm rather pleased with it. If it's not one of the chosen ones, I promise I won't mind. I love it anyway.

I used freezer paper and hand appliqued the circles and then hand quilted the circles in lots of juicy colours.

I also got to use my hand screen printed yummy labels.

Now that's done I intend to start quilting my actual quilt, it's been basted for quite a while but I have been a little afraid to start it, and wasn't sure how to quilt it. I'm still not, but the fear is subsiding.

Linking in with Freshly Pieced and our creative spaces, in it's new home. What's on your crafty table right now? 

screen printing, with Lucie Summers

You may already know that in January this year the London Modern Quilt Guild was founded by Annie. As a complete novice to quilting (and only having received my quilting 'essentials' for Christmas I signed up to join, all eager to learn...

Little did I know just what interesting things I would learn and what fabulous people I would meet along the way. The group itself is full of talented quilters, we meet once a month at Tricolette, a wonderful yarn and quilting shop. We have had a surprise guest - Moda designer Aneela Hoey, who also had a great time and it is so much fun to be around like minded people.

The latest adventure was on Sunday: a screen printing workshop with Lucie Summers. I have wanted to learn how to screen print for years and this was the most amazing opportunity.

Seven of us went to join Lucie at her workshop in Suffolk and she patiently explained how the screens are made, showed us how to screen print and then let us loose. 

We had all designed a Quilt Label and our very own screens were ready and waiting for us. Being super keen we all dived in and Lucie shared tips, gave advice and infused us with her passion for printing. 

As the day went on, Lucie then let us use some of her larger screens for some double printing. We got to use one of her designs and once it had dried, then printed our own design over the top. The combinations are endless and the effects on different fabrics with the juicy colours are fascinating. By the end of the session we had all got to grips with the techniques and were producing some impressive fabrics. 

I have a new obsession....

We also got to see 'that' quilt - it's stunning, and much bigger than I imagined it would be. Lucie's first collection with Moda is hitting the shops right now, get some while you can.

I will be back with some KCWC updates soon - I got sidetracked.