Improv Challenge

Improvisational Piecing is not something I am incredibly familiar with. To improvise anything is beyond my comfort zone. I like following instructions. (I write patterns, after all!) When I cook, I need a recipe. When I pack, I make a list. And when I travel, I need an agenda. Usually there are plan Bs and Cs involved, too. So the idea of creating a quilt with no explicit instructions does not immediately appeal to me. However, last year I had the opportunity to play a little in improv-piecing, and in an effort to try ALL things quilt related, I jumped on it.

Almost immediately after Quilt Con 2023 in Atlanta, I made a commitment to try and be more involved in the MQG community. We do not have a Modern Quilt Guild near me, so I joined the Guild as an Independent Member. There are two groups that meet virtually (which makes my introvert heart happy), so I joined the Modern Fusion Independent Member Coalition. It may have been the first meeting I attending that there was a call for those interested in participating in an Improv Round Robin Challenge. And wanting to feel a part of the group, I signed up.

There were a total of 19 people who committed to the challenged, and we were split up into smaller groups. My group was a total of 6 people; Me, Chiquita, Nancy, Caroline, Farrah, and Lauren. Each one of us were to create a block, improvisationally-pieced together. We would then send it to “the next” person. We were assigned the same person to send our block to each month until after six months, we received our own block back, along with a block from each quilter along the way. I was assigned to send my blocks to Chiquita every month, who then sent her block and my block to Nancy. Nancy sent our blocks and her own to Caroline, then Caroline to Farrah, Farrah to Lauren, and I received blocks from Lauren. It was described as a “progressive dinner” of sorts.

There were questions asked, articles sent, and research done to figure out what “Improv Quilting” meant. The general conclusion was that improv is basically anything that isn’t following instructions or a pattern. I still did not have a good grasp on what I thought that meant when the time came to create my block. I knew I wanted to use fabrics I already had, and I wanted to start with purple. (Of course purple. I am me, after all). And still not really knowing what to do, I made the below monstrosity.

Ok, so quilting should be a judgement free zone (unless there is literally a judging situation), so I will step back and say it is not a monstrosity. But….if I knew then, would I know now, I would have gone about things differently. My strategy was just grabbing scraps, sewing lines, and creating a new straight edge. Rinse, wash, repeat. I let the shape of my scraps dictate the way I sewed pieces together. And I just kept going until I had my block. I squared it up, and mailed it to Chiquita.

Then, a few days later, I received Lauren’s block in the mail.

Lauren’s block (bottom left) showed up and it turned my perception upside down on what improv piecing could be. They were all flying geese! They were all the same size. Her requests where for high contrast between her geese centers and the background sky. She had a color scheme. Apparently, improv can have a plan. So I pulled from my scrap bin navys, yellows, and whites and set to work with my ruler, creating flying geese, along with some Square in a Square blocks, and Half-Square Triangles. There was some measuring involved, but I did not spend too much time making the blocks line up. Where I needed extra room, I simply sewed on another piece of fabric and trimmed it to fit.

Next in the mail came Farrah’s.

Farrah had very specific instructions. She wanted triangles. She wanted specific colors (gold, rust, teal, army green) in both a dark and a light value. Just like Lauren, Farrah also had a plan, but a different kind of plan. She was not following a specific kind of block, like flying geese, but she had a shape in mind, and on top of that, she had a very set color scheme. This block had the most rules of all six that came through, and yet there was no measuring. There was not a written pattern to follow. This may have been my favorite block to create because of how uniform our improve blocks were.

Caroline’s block was next. I believe hers was the top left, but unfortunately I did not document everything to the fullest. Her instructions were pretty minimal. She chose to work with curves as that was a skill in which she wanted practice. And probably because it was the most striking element in her block, we all followed suit, using the same colors she began with.

The next set of blocks I received are pictured to the left, and they originated with Nancy. I believe the original block is the bottom most left, but I cannot be sure. Her rules were simple. Greys for the background, and pops of color and black. Since the majority of the blocks had skinny strips or segmented lines, I chose to try my hand at that. It is more difficult than you would think dividing a line at and angle and having it appear to run straight with another piece of fabric in the middle. Improv can also involve seam ripping to get something “right”.

Only one more participant’s block to arrive, and that was Chiquita’s.

In some respects, Chiquita’s and Nancy’s blocks were similar. Lots of black and white, with pops of color. The biggest difference was that Chiquita’s block came already assembled. Previously, you’ll have noticed everyone’s blocks were separate, leaving it up to the originator to assemble them as they wished. With Chiquita’s, she started as the center square, and each quilter added on to it. My addition is the left most strip.

So finally, it was time that my original block was to make its way back to me. What was it going to look like? Was everyone going to hodgepodge their way sewing random scraps together like I had? Knowing now that I could have measured, and I could have cut out specific sizes; I could have made shapes I wanted instead of being forced to work around the shape of the scrap available, I would have done my original block so differently. I was very much hoping the other quilters did not feel like they had to mimic my “monstrosity”.

I was so excited to see my returned pieces. I was even more excited to see that they had already been sewn on to my original block. This was purely selfish, as it just made less work on my part, and after six months of this Round Robin Improv challenge I was getting some decision fatigue.

Based on notes that were sent along with my quilt top, I learned that Chiquita added the log-cabin-esque row above my original block, pulling peachy pinks and purples and a splash of teal. Nancy added a similar row below my block, mirroring Chiquita’s. Caroline added the matching strips immediately on either side of the assembled blocks. Farrah created the larger row on top of Chiquita and Caroline’s additions. And lastly, Lauren added the top row of pinwheels, along with the strip on the left and bottom which more or less squared it off.

It was now up to me to finish it. We were given several months and as of this week, we are presenting our finished quilts to the Modern Fusion Group during our February meeting.

I felt as though I wanted a final addition on my part. And now that I felt more comfortable creating my own rules and knowing that is still considered improv, I went about creating Eight at a Time half-square triangles. After playing around with the layout of my design wall, I settled on placement and started sewing them in strips to create a border. I had to create a few more when it came down to it so that they would be the right size to attach.

And in the spirit of improv, I pieced my backing using large scraps and remnants. My favorite bit was my “label”. Upon receiving my quilt top from Lauren, it also came with the paper I wrote my original instructions to the group on. Each quilter added a note to the paper, documenting the journey. I had it printed on fabric and included that in my backing to tell the story of my improv quilt.

I learned tons about Improv Piecing through this challenge, and I am so glad I chose to participate. It will probably never be my go-to method of creating a quilt top, but I am sure I will bust out this method when the mood strikes. Quilt Con 2024 is rapidly approaching and one of the classes I am signed up for is improv based. One of the beautiful things about quilting is there is no one way of doing things, despite what Quilt Police may tell you. Any opportunity you may have to reach beyond your self-imposed boundaries and learn something new is always well worth it.