Tah dah!! Another finish under my belt – and I love the way this turned out – lots of strips, sliced and diced, squared off, and quilted.
As much as I loved my other Purple Improv, I think I like this even better.
Usually I tend to quilt all-over designs such as feathers or paisleys. Smaller over-all designs are easier to manage with my standard sized Bernina. Since nothing else was “as usual” with this project, I originally decided to quilt an overall evenly spaced spiral.
And I thought – “meh.”
The I saw this beauty called “Passing Showers” by Karen of Blooming Poppies. Seriously, go take a look at her quilt. Really fabulous.
And I knew I just needed more:
Oh yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.
It took a run through the washer and dryer for me to really really know I’d done the right thing.
Here’s a look at the back:
Yep – the back is pieced too. I really cleared out my stash of purples and chose the brown to extend my scraps into a large enough backing.
I did have to make one more final trip to the fabric store to buy enough Kona purple to bind the crazy thing – but adding a solid dark purple to my now-manageable purple stash is OK.
The total finish size is 48″ x 48″. I’ll install a hanging sleeve and make sure it’s labeled properly – and then on to my next project, which will be a low-contrast, more traditional pattern. (I think.)
All the best – Chris
By the way – I’m in the process of updating some of the pages on my blog, especially the “quilts” gallery. Please forgive the mess – and the temporary incomplete-ness!
Your work is amazing. I can only aspire to get close to being that creative.
Thanks so much, Jil! So glad you stopped by – this was a really fun experiment!
I love your improv work and the quilting looks amazing. Love how you off set the circle!!
Thanks, Karen! I feel fortunate to have seen your quilt for inspiration when I did -
How on earth?! That is amazing. I would have never imagined an off-center circle quilting design. How did you even measure that out? It’s just….so wild! I love it! How do you make these things so quickly?!
Hi, Lori – I’m so glad you like this improv quilt too! I actually like it better than the main quilt from which it sprang -
I almost always have two related quilts going at a time: the main quilt and a scrap quilt out of the odds and ends of scraps from the main quilt. I originally started doing that because I was under some delusion of mess control. Now the mess is still there, but I can justify it by saying “hey – there’s another quilt under that pile!”
It’s not much different than making zucchini bread and muffins to freeze at the same time. Kind of. Only with a much longer time frame.
(It helps that I can leave all my crap-ola laying out and just shut the door to the spare room.)
Take care – am loving your blog this summer -
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