The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.....July Blog Hop

Bias Strip Petals.....My Process and Book Give Away

 

 

Shifting Impressions



Last winter, I had the privilege of being one of the testers for Sherri Lynn Wood's new book, The Handbook for Modern Quilters. I enjoyed my experience immensely. 

To quote the book description on Amazon; "instead of traditional instructions, she (Sherri Lynn Wood) presents 10 frameworks (or scores) that create a guiding, but not limiting, structure." All of the testers received one of the 10 scores.

When I received the "Bias Petal" score...a little panic ensued. Why, you might ask? Well, did the improv part unnerve me? No, not in the least, as I have been having my own love affair with improv  quilting for some time now. What about the curved piecing or bias strips??  No, not really, curved piecing and I are old friends. What was it then?? The word PETAL...yes, the word PETAL!!  Nothing personal...but, but, but I don't do flowery petal type things!!!!  Yup....that knocked me right out of my comfort zone, which is probably a good thing.

 

I needed several bias strips and as usual got a little carried away.

 

 I cut meters upon meters of bias strips (after all, I wanted variety).  I still have plenty of those strips sitting around for more projects.

 

Whenever working with fabric cut on the bias....bubbles and puckers can be a problem. But Sherry Lynn has plenty of tips to combat those pesky bubbles. My secret weapon is spray starch!!!!

 

I made several petals...and just kept putting up on my black design wall.  I used several gradient type fabrics and mostly solids or tone on tone fabrics.

 

I decided to shatter the petals...somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking of them as petals. I shattered them by slicing through the petals (using my rotary cutter) and shifting them a little and sewing them back together.

 

 

 

The shattering and shifting....created a fairly different effect.

 

I took one look at the design wall and the question that kept running through my head was....how in the world am I going to put this all together, into one piece??? I was determined to do it all by machine....no hand sewing whatsoever.

 

As you can see, I started by quilting sections, with no idea where I was going. And of course, I tossed in a little QAYG (Quilt as you Go) for good measure.

 

Shifting Impressions....Quilt Con 2015

 (and yes, we both made it to Quilt Con!!)





As an added bonus, I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Sherry Lynn (Quilt Con 2015).

 

The score here was "Floating Squares", but that would be another blog post. My major problem here was limiting myself to so few fabrics....it wasn't long before I was sneaking in a few more in. Hey, that is what improv is all about, right?
 
Sherri Lynn's publishers are generously giving away one free copy of Sherri Lynn's  fabulous book.  Just leave me a comment about your experience or lack of experience regarding improv type quilting by July 15. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Note: the book give away is open for residents of Canada and the United States only. Also, please make sure  your email info is available, with your comment should you be a no-reply commenter.



Bias Petal Score....My process

Last winter, I volunteered to be a tester for Sherri Lynn Wood's upcoming book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters. I enjoyed my experienced immensely...except for the fact that I couldn't share my process with you, along the way. But good news....I am free to do so now. Rest assured I took plenty of pictures along the way.

To quote the book description on Amazon; "Instead of traditional instructions, she (Sherri Lynn Wood) presents 10 frameworks (or scores) that create a guiding, but not limiting, structure." All of the testers received one of the 10 scores.

When I received the "Bias Petal" score....a little panic ensued. Why you might ask? Well, did the improv part unnerve me? No, not in the least...I have been having my own love affair with improv for some time now. What about the curved piecing or bias strips?? No, not really, curved piecing and I are old friends. What was it then?? The word PETAL....yes, the word PETAL!! Nothing personal...but, but, but I don't do flowery petal type things!!!! Yup....that knocked me right out of my comfort zone....probably a good thing.

 Here is the finished quilt: Shifting Impressions

I needed several bias strips and as usual got a little carried away

Then I cut meters upon meters of bias strips (after all, I wanted variety). I still have plenty of those strips sitting around for more projects.

Whenever working with anything on the bias.....bubbles and puckers can be a problem.But, Sherri Lynn has plenty of little tips to combat those pesky bubbles. My secret weapon is spray starch!!!!

I made several petals....and just kept putting them up on my black design wall. I used several gradient type fabrics and mostly solids or tone on tone fabrics.

I decided to shatter the petals.....somewhere along the process, I stopped thinking of them as petals. I shattered them by slicing through the petals (using my rotary cutter) and shifting them a little and sewing them back together.

 The back of a shattered petal.

The shattering......created a different effect.

I took one look at the wall and the question that kept running through my head was.....how in the world am I going to put this all together into one piece???  I was determined to do it all by machine.....no hand sewing whatsoever.

As you can see, I started quilting sections, with no idea where this was going. And of course I threw in a little QAYG (Quilt as you Go).....and there you have it.

The exciting part of working this way is that the ideas sort of start exploding along the way.

One out of Three.....is going to Quilt Con

I thought if I submitted at least three quilts to Quilt Con.....hopefully one would be accepted. And there you have it one was. The quilt I was really wanting to go....is going!!!! I haven't shared this quilt on my blog to date, as I was testing one of the scores in Sherri Lynn Wood's upcoming book "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters".

I loved making this quilt and my only regret was being unable to share my process with you, along the way. But rest assured I took plenty of pictures throughout. Today I will just give you a couple of photos, but there will be some process posts coming up.

Shifting Impressions