Mighty Lucky Quilting Club Year of Colour July Challenge

Welcome to the fourth instalment of the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club! I am rather thrilled to be bringing another challenge to subscribers. 

This month is all about two things - bossy fabrics and improv curves. For the full low-down on bossy fabrics you will have to get the challenge itself. But I will let you know that it is all about managing those dominant fabrics to use them effectively in quilt design. 

The improv curves you can see above. There is the beginner option and the full star treatment. This is a great intro to improv circles and I am really excited to see what people make. This row is the final frame before the center block. I maybe had a sneak peak at the plans for the center and let me assure you, the whole quilt is coming together amazingly!

This whole experience is rather fun. I am making the quilt myself, not just my rows. Some quilters are ready and waiting for this instalment. Some, like me, need to make some more. No pressure. Sew what you can, when you can. I love checking out the #mightyluckyquiltingclub hashtag on Instagram.

If you are joining us here from the group, I want to encourage you to have fun with this block. It might seem intimidating and more than a little awkward. If you've never done curves, improv or otherwise, before have faith that the process will work. I believe in you! Yes, there are scraps. Hang in for a few weeks and I will show you a couple of ideas for your scraps. I have quilt a few myself, from all the rows!

Now, to get back to my own CMYK inspired version!

For all the scoop on Mighty Lucky and what you might be able to discover through the challenges check it all out here. 

Itty Bitty Curves to Carry Me Through the End of Winter

Oh these improv curves! 

In sharp contrast, at least when it comes to colour, I pulled out these little blocks last week. With my Names for Snow quilt top finished it is great to play with bold colours again. 

Here's where it stands. 

I'm running out of fabric. But I am nowhere near running out of motivation to sew these little blocks together. So now I am debating finding more fabric - it is a mix of random vintage solids, Kona solids, Connecting Threads solids, and I think some Essex Linen. It wouldn't be hard to figure out what I've used so far and buy just a little bit more.

As it stands, this is about 65'' tall. But only 38'' wide. I have baggies of blocks, but they are little and get used up quickly. Hmm...

Traveller - Wrapped in Hugs

Traveller

54'' x 54''

Started years ago, finished in record time. Traveller is a special quilt I made for a special person going through a rough time.

The fabric comes from India, brought home for me - the quilter in the family. I pet it, I made precisely 3 quarter circles to test out the sewing, then put it aside for years. I would show the blocks when I taught my Perfect Circles class and put them back in the bin. Then you hear the word Cancer. Cancer. And the world stops for more than a few moments. When it starts again, you, the quilter, think of making a quilt.

The quilt itself is something you want to give, to try to keep your arms wrapped around the person 24/7. It's more than that though. It is the act of making for me, the quilter, too. The act of making allows us to slow down, think about the person, and process our own emotions. It is about the quilt AND the process equally. And when the quilt leaves your hands and gets wrapped around the back of the recipient all the love gets transferred.

The top was done already, made in a fit of tangential creativity and improvisation. I'd always known I would give it to this particular recipient, but the quilt top languished in the pile of unfinished tops awaiting another round of motivation. So when I heard Cancer and surgery and a lot of time on the couch right before Christmas I pushed myself to get the quilt finished.

I made the back from a collection of sarong fabric another friend gave me. More travel inspiration! My husband helped me baste the quilt on a Saturday night. All day Sunday I quilted. Monday I bound, stitching on the winter drive with a golden thread, car light on as the sun set freakishly early on the Northern Prairies. On Tuesday it lay on the bed, waiting for recovery, waiting to lay down the hugs. 

Improvisational Piecing For Those Afraid of Improv

Yes, this still counts as Improv. It has precisely pieced curves, all made and squared up to the same size. It has a controlled grouping of fabric. It isn't at all what I thought I would make.

I define Improvisational Piecing as this:

Starting a quilt without knowing what it will look like when you finish.

This puts the emphasis on the process, on the path, on the exploration. It makes it about the act of sewing more than the fun of figuring out how to make something beautiful from that act. 

So when I started this quilt it was just to play with the fabric and the curves. Years later, when I returned to the fabric I kept the initial play and ran with it. I simply made the blocks. There was no finished quilt in mind. Obviously, my intent was to actually make a quilt at some point and not just a pile of blocks. But I had no idea what size that quilt would end up or what the actual design was going to be. I just made blocks until I ran out of the grey fabric. (To be perfectly honest, I'd wanted it bigger, but the fabric is years old and I was too lazy to try and hunt it down. So 54'' square is the size of the quilt.)

Then I had to figure out a layout. With quarter circles you have practically infinite design possibilities. I spent a morning sketching and colouring some options. I played on the design wall. I looked at the quilts of Jen Carlton Bailly, in particular. All cool and pretty, but not what felt right with these fabrics. In the end, I remembered the movement of a quilt I made with a stack of half square triangles. The design wall play worked!

No plan, no sketch, no pattern. Just a bunch of blocks turned into a quilt top. Complete improvisation.

If the thought of wonky or irregular cut fabric freaks you out - and I know it does for some people - but you are willing to embrace the challenge of an adventure then I suggest an exercise like this. Take precisely pieced building blocks, like a quarter circle, half square triangle, equilateral triangles, or even pieced coin strips and embrace some playtime. Make them without planning out a design, then try out a million and one different options for lay outs. This is indeed improvisational piecing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.