Sunday 24 April 2016

'strings' improv


If you've stopped by lately, you will know I've been playing with a little touch of improv!
I spent a fun afternoon today getting this colourful 'strings' improv quilt top together.
In the end, the result is nothing like how I first envisaged
... but that's ok!








 and a few closeup pics of the fabrics...
















- a little bit of bright sunshine on a cloudy day






I enjoyed the free form cutting and fortunately, trimming up the blocks to get them to all fit together was quite easy! I played with the arrangement to get a bit of overall balance, and added in some longer connecting strips in the more trickier areas.
I used a scrappy selection of Carolyn Friedlander 10" squares, and those connecting filler strips are teal Acacia by Tula Pink.
Improv ideas, including using a framework & setting limits, came from this book 'The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters' and further inspiration from Ashley from filminthefridge.


Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here
and with the April AHIQ over here
- where others are sharing more improvisational projects

21 comments:

Raewyn said...

Stunning - that sure looks like you had a lot of fun! The teal fillers add a great touch too:-)

Marie said...

You can just see how much fun you had making this one. Love it!

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Awesome! I think it looks amazing. Thanks for sharing other Oh Scrap!

Karyn said...

Very nice. I really like the extra teal pieces that add to the design.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you Marie. I did enjoy making this playful piece, even when I didn’t really know where it was going to end up!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you Karyn! Yes, I’m finding more & more, that teal works really well when there’s quite a few other ‘brights’ around.

Nifty Quilts said...

Great quilt! The turquoise filler strips give it just the right amount of irregularity.

Julie said...

This quilt looks fabulous in all the Carolyn Friedlander fabrics, I love this.

Heather said...

Its lovely Linda - as everybody has said, the teal strips really bring it all together.

Sue said...

I love this strings quilt, and the colors are really striking and fresh! Thanks for sharing with us.

Debbie said...

I really like your string blocks! I've played with strings a bit lately and find them addicting!

Stephie said...

What a great result! Sometimes when things come out least like we expect they're often better than we were aiming for. I love the wide strings - the ones I keep making are skinny little things and are going to be a right pain to hand quilt!

Claire said...

I like the overall look. The final arrangement has the colors nicely distributed, and the teal is a great touch. Claire aka knitnkwilt.wordpress.com

Marly said...

A lovely finish and very dynamic. I like how you resolved the problem of fitting the awkward blocks together. Reading this has been inspirational. Thank you.

Kaja said...

Great quilt - congratulations! Your wide strings are very successful. I tend to go small but this makes me want to make something with bigger pieces. The filler strips are spot on, and I love the mix of colours and fabrics too. Thank you for sharing this on AHIQ.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thanks Marly. It’s quite a different style for me!
I did enjoy playing with this, and loved the wee challenge of getting it all to fit together!

audrey said...

Love this! Really, really great quilt top.:)

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you so much Audrey!
I had originally planned to use these fabrics as fillers/blenders with other projects, but – they all looked so great together.

Janie said...

Good contrast and colors!

Ann said...

What a fantastic improv. Love the soft blue throughout as well as the mix of soft and bright alternating with cream and grey. Special touches like the blue fillers and the half strings of blue and white. Congratulations! Thanks for linking with AHIQ.

Jill Fisher said...

It's a lovely finish with all of those gentle, organic curves. You will have limitless options for quilting it, too!