It's Not Maps, But It Feels Like Progess

Quilting has been a little sporadic this summer. The latest Map challenge definitely sounds intriguing, but somehow my brain refuses to come up with any real way forward. The lightbulb is not going off. So I've decided to continue work on my open ended improv. projects for the moment and just try to be prepared for the eventuality of a map idea!

Score #5

I've had two open-ended improv. projects this summer that sort of stalled out. One is the Score #5 from Sherri Lynn Woods Improv. Handbook and the other is something that refers back to an AHIQ Playing with Scale challenge, and funnily enough, might also tie into Score #6 in Sherri's book. I just love when projects merge like that, so nice and convenient!

Score #5 has been very challenging on several different fronts. For one, I don't tend to follow directions very well so no real surprise when I immediately bogged down with the 'formula'. No problem, I just used the pictures as a guide. Yeah, well, I got it all wrong right away but decided to just forge ahead regardless.

That brought me up to the permeable borders which are a really important part of this quilt. Right off the bat I realized that my quilt was far too short for adding on the proper proportion of the would-be borders. Ugghh.. So I packed it up for a time and then much later, on a whim late one evening {the main reason there is no progress pics}, decided to tackle the quilt again. Amazing how working across the bottom, in a horizontal path, made it all seem so much more 'doable'. Something to remember in the future.

Then finally, I girded up my loins one day and pushed on with the border area. The left side went together so quickly it felt like a joke. Then the right side? Not so easy. It didn't need to be identical and in fact, like the original quilt portrayed, I didn't even want the fabrics to repeat very much. Using the floral fabric, which felt like a fantastic idea in theory, made the balancing act all the more precarious. Needless to say, that side took a whole lot longer than the other before I felt satisfied that it all sort of 'worked' and played nicely with each other.

Not having a large design wall definitely intensified my struggles. Not being able to follow directions very well for sure complicated things, gave me obstacles to overcome in the piecing and 'flow'. Working in random times and not keeping on top of it interrupted the flow too. I'm actually sort of surprised this is now a completed quilt top. Yay for the determined quilter! And yes, I have straightened and neatened this quilt top since taking pictures. Not squared it, no, that may be impossible--but tidied it for sure. Now it's on to the other one still in the works. Can't be giving up on the improv.!

Progress Update

Happy happy to my AHIQ friends! More progress was made on my Score #5 attempt. This picture basically represents the middle portion of the quilt. As I was pondering the overall look, it occurred to me that this may be too short to gracefully accommodate the remaining two vertical rows that need to be added.*grr  How tricky will that be to add on one extra block onto the ends of the four rows already sewn together?

Score #5

I had a crazy amount of fun working on this project {can read more about that over on my blog}, but it still had lots of tough moments working with flow and respect to the original quilt formula. Somehow my quilt has more of a rail fence feel than the enclosed square look that caught my eye in the original {pictured in The Improv. Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood}. By now I've worked with enough improv. to know not to fight authentic flow, no matter where or how it might deviate from our original thought or intent.

What I'm looking forward to most with this Score #5, is the idea of learning more about 'permeable borders'. I think that's something that happened in my latest quilt finish, but it should be helpful to experiment with this idea in a whole new setting. As a dedicated border enthusiast, I have a habit of locking down and closing in my quilts with strong, obvious boundaries and borders. Just the nature of this particular score eliminates that as an option which will help force me to work through my natural design inclinations....*fingers crossed!

Playing With Scale #2

Then there's this second improv. quilt that sprung up almost out of nowhere. Months ago I had gathered a stack of fabrics together with the vague idea of making a quilt for the wedding of a relative. After much thought, I decided it was too much effort to expend on a couple that might not recognize me if I met up with them unexpectedly in a store! Hmm... Is that mean? But That Fabric....

And so I pretty much dove head first into making the initial units. Just enough to get a good feel for moving forward before I wrenched myself back and grimly focused on more important projects. lol Isn't it fun to have these open ended improv. quilts in the queue? This will probably be Playing With Scale #2 if I give in to the urge to include larger triangles. {And I know that's where I'm headed so why fight it?} I'm beginning to think my mind won't even function anymore without dreaming up more improv. ideas. One idea gets finished up and another pops up right behind it. For now I'm busy making lots and lots of freehand hst blocks before I will attempt to make more strippy units. There is a very, very loose plan in the works, but we'll see how that pans out before committing to anything too structured. Happy stitching, Audrey

p.s. Not to be repetitive in any way, but moving forward my intention is to try to balance both this and my regular quilting blog. I really like the quilting journal aspect of my original blog and want to keep it current as well.