Tag Archives: planned improv

• 10 Comments

•

This week the new project on the design wall is my Improv Tumbler that I'm making for my Island Batik Ambassador "Whimsical and Wonky" challenge this month. All of my fabrics are from the Paisley Dot Brights 10" stack (provided to me by Island Batik). I'm going for a color wash effect. I was able to get all of my whole tumblers onto the wall. I have a pile of half tumblers that I will use to fill in the ends of each row and perhaps piece together to fill in if needed. These improv tumblers were cut freehand with a rotary cutter, without the use of a ruler or template.

I look forward to starting to get this one sewn together. It's shown on a 48" wide design wall, so I expect it will shrink up up around 36" wide.

Edited to add: A little more on this project can be found in this earlier post. And it's based on my Improv Tumbler Mini (which I miss).

What's on your design wall this week?

• 8 Comments

•

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, including products from Aurifil and Hobbs.

Our November Island Batik Ambassador challenge was to use log cabins. Log cabin blocks are so versatile. Many of us decided to utilize our 2 1/2" strip precuts. I thought this would be a great opportunity to do just that and brought out my Jungle Cruise strips. This collection is full of color in a variety of prints: tortoise shell, giraffe, snake skin, cheetah, reptile, and fern/leaf. My accompanying yardage was snake skin in hay and giraffe in citrine.

I chose to feature some of the brighter colored 2 1/2" strips with Snake Skin in Hay as my light neutral to contrast. I considered starting with a rectangle in the center of my single large log cabin, but eventually chose to start with an 8 1/2" center square (unfinished). It was once I had added my fourth side to the log cabin that I decided I really did want a rectangular center section. So I chopped off the side to trim down my center piece to (what would have started at) 6 1/2" x 8 1/2". There wasn't anything magical about this size except that the finished dimensions were both multiples of 2, since the 2 1/2" strips would finish at 2" wide.

From this point I worked improvisationally, auditioning colors for the next strips as I went. I had a slightly different vision in mind (which I'll consider for a future project), but I'm pleased with the final composition. It finished at approximately 38" x 40".

I opted to try out Hobbs Tuscany 100% wool batting for the first time with this project. I was a bit concerned that the higher loft than I'm used to would create a problem quilting on my domestic machine, but it was very easy to work with. My quilting all had the same density, but I think I'll be using some of the batting scraps to play around with mixing in some more dense quilting to really make the less quilted areas pop. Compared to my default cotton batting, this quilt is puffier and lighter weight. The wool batting seemed to cause less drag as I pushed the quilt around to do the quilting.

Jungle Cabin was quilted with Aurifil 50wt #2310 Light Beige thread. I opted for ribbon candy in the colored strips and I created a 1-inch grid of wavy lines in the background.

Giraffes are one of my favorite animals. I just love this giraffe print I chose for the back. Sometimes the favorite print going on the back of a quilt is a great way to enjoy a large piece of it.

And you know how I love a machine binding!

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. Kathleen and Laura both opted for super sized log cabins this month, too!

• 10 Comments

•

My Greenery project was born out of the Pantone Quilt Challenge in 2017 coupled with the Bay Area Modern scrap challenge to utilize squares and rectangles. I finished the quilt top in May 2017, in time to submit to the Just the Top category of the 2017 Pantone Quilt Challenge. I’m so excited to have finally finished this quilt, the original inspiration for Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares which I started teaching in 2017.

This project started with a thumbnail sketch and a pile of scraps. I began by cutting all my Greenery scraps into squares. Purple was added by the advice of my friend, Mel. I worked improvisationally on the design wall with my squares and then "made it work" to piece and fill in with background fabrics (also from the scrap bin) to make my first unit. Then I repeated my process to make related units. I initially thought I would make nine, but felt "done" after 7, which resulted in the chosen layout.

I quilted this one on the longarm at Always Quilting. I started with some echo quilting around my scrappy squares. Then I filled in the background with organic, wavy lines. Lastly, I filled each scrappy square section with a boxy meander. I chose three thread colors, a pale green for the background, darker green for the squares, and purple for the center section. There were many stops and starts between switching colors and needing to advance the quilt on the frame. I'm quite pleased with the result, but it was a bit of "beat the clock" at the end of the afternoon to finish up before the shop closed. I underestimated how much time would be spent changing colors.

I made a scrappy binding and piecing the back with any stash fabric close to the color palette. Overall, it's a very scrappy quilt. It finished at approximately 61" x 66".

Thanks for visiting!

I've linked up to the Q4 FAL Finishes Linkup.