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.
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| Mari’s cute little pincushion. |
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| Kristen decided on the background fabric. |
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| 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.
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| 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.”
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| Sue’s improv triangle piece. |
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| Carol’s triangles, wedges, curved and strip piecing. Will they end up together? |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Sketches, notes, measurements. |
Here are the first sample blocks she made to test the measurements and construction.
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| 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.
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| Curved piecing. |
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| A new composition. |
Gwen found inspiration for another piece after we did the improv game. Here is the beginning of her Sawtooth Star block.
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| 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.
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| Improv block for the community quilt project. |
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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.
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| The hands that make. |
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| We still make things. |
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| We make things with our hands. |
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| The hands that make. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| “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.”
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| “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).
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| “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!
