Improv patchwork class at the Folk School, Part II

With a full week of activities—in and outside the studio—it’s difficult to capture everything from a week-long Intro to Improv Quilting class in a single blog post. So, this is a continuation of the post from my recent week of teaching Intro to Improv Quilting at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

One of my 100 Day Projects incorporates trimmings and pieced bits from other improv quilts
into a fabric stitch book.

Instructor Show and Tell

In addition to digital presentations, I bring several several pieces of my work—quilts, garments, wall pieces, zippered pouches, etc.—to provide students with inspiration and an impetus for the improv process. 

Show and Tell on Day 3 of class.

Often, it’s helpful to see improv work “up close and in person” to see the piecing and the quilting, and the colors and prints of the fabrics “in real life.”

Quilting and embellishments on Blue Rhino Moon, an improv piece created in response to a Guild Challenge.

Improv pieced jacket collar using vintage fabrics and orphan blocks.

Through explanations of the parameters of a project—such as Guild Challenges or the score for my piece that was published in Sherri Lynn Wood’s, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters book—questions arise and we have thoughtful conversations about quiltmaking. 

Guitar Strings Improv appears in The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters,
by Sherri Lynn Wood, p. 38.

Detail of Guitar Strings Improv.

Alone Together was a Guild Challenge that spanned 2020 - 2021. The piece was inspired by the lyrics in “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles. The story and the process is in this blog post and this post.

Alone Together quilt, in response to the 2020 Guild Challenge.

For more information about the stories and processes of the pieces from Show and Tell, below are the related blog posts. At least one of them includes “Quilt Stats” that includes hours of quilting time, thread specs, number of bobbins used, and the like.

• A Tribute to Steve
• Alone Together: piecing, editing, and assembly post, quilting and finishing with quilt stats, and what I learned from making this quilt
• Improv pieced jacket with vintage quilt pieces, and continued here.
• Blue Rhino Moon and this post about the story and the label
• Break Free, Take Flight
• Guitar Strings Improv
• Quarter Circle Improv quilt (the piece in the Instructors’ display at Keith House)
• zipper bag featuring ScanFil organic cotton threads
• 100 Day Stitch Book with leftover improv fabric bits

Show and Tell from a published author

My studio assistant for this workshop was Kim Deneault, the author of Raggedy Reverse Appliqué.

Kim shares her story about the Raggedy Reverse Appliqué book and how easy it is
for even young kids to make things with the technique.

Students were treated to a Show and Tell of samples from her book and Kim shared her story about writing the book, her TV episode on Simply Quilts, and getting into the quilting and fabric industry.

Show and Tell of quilts and pillows from the book, Raggedy Reverse Appliqué. 

The Booby Trap quilt.

Lots of texture and dimension!

As in life and with improv patchwork: you may start with an idea, but you don’t always know where you’re going to end up. You have to pay attention, respond to what’s in front of you, and occasionally take a leap of faith. 

It was a great week of making, learning, and sharing stories at the Folk School!

A week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School—Part II

We had such a wonderful week with improvisational quiltmaking at the John C. Campbell Folk School that I wanted to post a few more favorite moments from class.

Mari’s cute little pincushion.

Kristen decided on the background fabric.

Charlotte mastered skinny strip inserts.

The improv process and how the work progresses

There is always a first step with any new endeavor… actually, many first steps. Before taking that next step, you may have to stop to think about the options… before continuing the journey.

Contemplating…

With each improv exercise, students created patchwork units and put them up on the design walls. As the week progressed, the compositions evolved, were edited, and fine tuned. In my previous post about this class, you saw many “finished” pieces. But it’s always interesting to see the beginning and intermediate stages along the way—the options, turns, forks in the road, and yes, … sometimes the “unsewing.” 

Sue’s improv triangle piece.

Carol’s triangles, wedges, curved and strip piecing. Will they end up together?

Early progress with strips and rectangles (Mary Anne’s piece).

Mari brought in fabrics from her godmother’s clothing. She’s going to honor her godmother, Buggie, by making a bed quilt with the fabrics.

Getting a sense of the colors, prints, and values of the fabrics.

After doing research in books from the quilting studio’s library, Mari found a quilt block pattern that she wanted to use as the basis her design. 

Sketches, notes, measurements.

Here are the first sample blocks she made to test the measurements and construction.

Improv quilt blocks made from clothing.

For June, the patchwork from the curved piecing exercise turned into a striking background after she decided to take the rotary cutter to it.

Curved piecing.

A new composition.

Gwen found inspiration for another piece after we did the improv game. Here is the beginning of her Sawtooth Star block.

The improv game inspired the start of a new piece for Gwen.

The quilting studio

Photos of the work space from the week.

Contributions to a Folk School 100th anniversary project

The Folk School is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The celebration begins in 2025 with the Fall Festival and continues through the summer of 2026. Our improv quilting class contributed quilt blocks to a community quilt project that the Textiles and Natural Fibers department is organizing. Here are two of the blocks we contributed.

Improv block for the community quilt project.

This improv block for the community quilt was made entirely 
from fabric scraps found in the classroom.

We still make things!

One of the quilted wall hangings in the Community Room at the Folk School says, “We still make things.” I love this! Here are the hands that make the things.

The hands that make.

We still make things.

We make things with our hands.

The hands that make.

We still make things.

Below is one of my favorite photos of hands. You can discover a lot about a quilt top’s construction by examining the back.

Examining the construction.

Favorite comments from students

• Students found the inspiration presentations very helpful. One person said the presentations were the workshop “fertilizer” to spark ideas. (Fertilizer is only good if you spread it around, right?)

• Check the Spare Parts Division! Even the weavers from the adjoining studio took advantage of our scrap box.

Geri Forkner, the weaving instructor in an adjacent studio, encouraged students in her
“Runs with Scissors” class to raid the scrap bins in other studios.

• At the end of the week, I was labeled as being a bad influence… because now students are saving the smallest of scraps! (I think this is a good thing.)

Show and Tell

I bring examples of my improv work for a Show and Tell with my students. It’s fun to revisit these quilts and share their stories with a new audience.

“Blue Rhino Moon” improv quilt.

Below is “Guitar Strings Improv,” the quilt I made in 2015 that was featured in Sherri Lynn Wood’s book, “The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.”

“Guitar Strings Improv” from The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.

The process for “Alone Together” (shown below) is documented in this post. The quilting is documented in this post, and includes the quilt stats (information about threads, thread weights, batting, and how long it took to free-motion quilt it).

“Alone Together” was a Guild Challenge quilt.

I had a fun time sharing the improv quilting processes with my students. And I was so inspired by the work they accomplished in just one week. Thanks for a wonderful experience!

My quilt in the "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters"—the process

Welcome to my stop on the Improv Handbook testers Blog Hop! This is a recap of my process, color and fabric choices, and a quick review of the book,  The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood. Here goes...

Early in 2014, I was chosen to be a tester for Sherri Lynn Wood's improvisational patchwork process. Sherri was gathering pieces for her new book, "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters," and invited participants to compose a piece based on one of her "scores." My quilt, "Guitar Strings Improv," was one of the 22 chosen to be included in the book out of 165 that were submitted. I'm thrilled that my quilt made the cut.

"Guitar Strings Improv"
43" x 40.5"
Photo by Sara Remington

What appealed to me about the project was that there was no pre-conceived idea/image/composition/pattern of what the final improv quilt should look like. The "Score for Strings"—the score I was given—was provided in a text format, so my interpretation of the words of Sherri's guidelines was how I proceeded. The adventure began!

My color palette was a "loose" complementary color scheme of red-orange and green. Bits of black, turquoise and yellow were added for contrast. In the finished quilt, you can see how the yellow bits against the red ground add a twinkle to the composition.

A red-orange and green color scheme.

I had done some improvisational cutting and piecing prior to using Sherri's score, so I was looking forward to these spontaneous and liberating parts of the process. Rotary cutting without a ruler is freeing and energizing! If you haven't tried this, please do. Watching the free-form, organic shapes of the patchwork emerge is inspiring and exciting. The more you do, the more you want to do.

In-progress strip sets.

The String Score offered the option of a "neutral background" fabric, but as my composition developed, I liked the strength and energy of the bold colors playing off each other, so I opted not to introduce another fabric.

Piecing the patchwork.

Patchwork problem-solving is required to get all the improv strip sets to "fit" together. For me, that is the part of the challenge (which I like)—and part of the fun! Sherri Lynn offers great tips in the book for getting improv patchwork to lie flat and how to ease in any bumps and ripples that may occur in the piecing.

A view of the design wall.

A design wall is so very helpful with this part of the process. It provides the opportunity to stand back and fine tune the composition as needed. If you look back at the finished quilt (above) you'll see that the pieces were turned 90-degrees before this quilt was all said and done.

Work in progress.

The free-motion quilting—another of my favorite parts of the quiltmaking process—in this piece takes a back seat to the saturated colors of the improvisationally pieced composition. The textures and patterns of the quilting appear to the viewer only upon closer inspection.

Free-motion quilting.

Here are some in-progress views of the free-motion quilting from the back—where it's much easier to see the quilting. I used a tonal 108" wide backing for my backing fabric.

Free-motion quilting (back view).

Free-motion quilting (back view).

Free-motion quilting (back view).

Instead of a binding, I decided to use a facing to finish the quilt. 

Finishing the quilt with a facing.

"Guitar Strings Improv," appears on page 38 of the book, sharing the 2-page spread with Beth Lehman of yellowhousedays.blogspot.com and Barb Mortell at barbmortell.ca. [By the way, all the websites/blogs of the contributors are listed at the back of the book—great addition!] A shout out to Sara Remington for the fabulous full-color photography of all the contributed quilts. I'm honored to be in the company of the other talented quilters that participated in the project.

"Guitar Strings Improv" by Veronica Hofman-Ortega
Photo by Sara Remington

About the Book

I'm looking forward to devouring the rest of Sherri Lynn's book and exploring the other 9 improv scores. There are 5 (big, fat) chapters in the book including one on finishing techniques. Lists of references, design considerations, and "mind tools" can be found throughout the chapters as well as in the back. There are oodles of color photos—in-progress detail shots, close-ups and full front views. The book's typography is clean and playful, and the layout is organized, easy to follow and approachable. Hey, kinda like improv! 

This is a must-have book for your quilting library and especially for those curious about trying improvisational patchwork. So, are you ready to try improv? Have you done improv piecing already? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think about it.

Best of luck with "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters," Sherri Lynn! Thanks for the opportunity to participate and contribute to your project. For a list of the other sites on the Blog Hop, click here.