Whose quilt are you making?

Or why it is important to trust your gut and go with your own style.

I am a devout follower of quilting gurus such as Jacquie Gering and Joe Cunningham. Both Jacquie and Joe are amazing quilters and improvisation features largely in their work. They make slice and insert, stitch and flip and the whole "see where the music takes you approach" seem so effortless.

A few months ago, I posted pictures of blocks that I had made to try out paper piecing. I wrote that I wanted to use those blocks in a quilt. Well, I decided to try some modern improvisation and make a lap quilt incorporating those blocks. Here is the result and to be honest, I am not really happy with it. It just does not work.

Improvised quilt using paper pieced blocks (Nov 2013)
 

I then tried to understand what went wrong, and this is what I came up with: The  alignment / distribution is not quite right and the neat, intricate and somewhat traditional  paper pieced blocks do not go well with the rest of the quilt. But above all else,  it is not "me". I love modern quilting, but I am not into improvisation. I am a planner and I prefer to spend time designing a modern quilt, even if it means hours and hours in Adobe Illustrator before I start sewing. I am not averse to switching fabrics mid-project or reorganizing blocks, but I do like to know where I am going when I start. And hey, there are no rules that say you have to make improvisational quilts if you are into modern quilting. In my opinion, Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Fabrics sums up what modern quilting / sewing means.

"...my use of the word ‘Modern’ related to attitude over aesthetic. An attitude of fearless experimentation, pushing boundaries, redefining what it means to sew, personal expression through our work, and defining for ourselves what we like and how we go about making it. A passion for individualism and unique creative endeavor."

I think it is really important to try new things, but at the same time, to do what works for you and is the most fun! And this quilt top won't go to waste, because I will turn it into a baby quilt for Project Linus, a charity that provides homemade blankets and quilts to children in need.

Paper Piecing Blocks - Starting the Quilt

Turning my first paper pieced blocks into a quilt - Part 1

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about trying paper piecing for the first time. I made five little practice blocks from scraps using a Carol Doak template. They were not perfect but they were so colourful and fun that I decided to hang on to them and turn them into a quilt.  

Two of the five paper pieced blocks, framed in white and purple solids (Aug 2013)

Because the paper pieced blocks are so colourful and contain so many different patterns, I decided to frame them with 1'' off-white strips (Kona solid in snow, my go-to colour for this kind of thing) to make a cleaner edge. I used the white strips to correct little mistakes in the blocks where the fabric did not go quite to the edge, so each block is a slightly irregular shape. This also gives the blocks a nice improvised look. I then added triangles in purple to make a bigger square block. Here you can see two of the five blocks (not yet squared up).

Triangle blocks made from scraps (Aug 2013)

I only had five paper pieced blocks, each measuring 4'' x 4'', so I needed to make some additional blocks for the quilt. I decided to make triangles from the same scraps used in the paper pieced blocks and add a white border to each.

Here are six of the triangles. I made 15 in total. At this stage I am planning on using 12 triangles in the quilt so having a few extra will give me a bit of flexibility when choosing the pattern / colour combinations.

The paper pieced blocks were made entirely from scraps. The Kona snow fabric was from a bundle of Kona bolt end cuts I bought at eQuilter  and the purple solid is fabric from my stash. I have a pretty clear idea of the design I want to sew and have decided that this quilt will be made entirely from stash and scrap fabric. Stay tuned to find out how the quilt progresses!