Thursday, September 28, 2017

Improv + Structure

One of the challenges in working with a quilt top with a variety of block sizes is how to puzzle them all together. And that's exactly where I'm sitting with my most recent Bee Sewcial quilt, Looking Up.



With Mod Mood, I used a 18" x 22" painters tape frame on my design wall, and filled in with smaller blocks. The skinny accent strips of one of the blocks was used repeatedly on other blocks to tie it all together.



That didn't work quite so well with Baconrific, where once I had the blocks all on the wall, I had three 'holes.' All is took (ahem) were three similar blocks to fill in.... I used improv circles aka pancetta blocks.



With Improv Alliance, I turned to improv spikes to fill in the gaps, and that worked beautifully. Only problem was I wasn't happy with the finished size of the quilt top. After much consideration, I opted for one wider side strip of spikes, and that not only connected with the other spike slabs, but brought the quilt top up to a size I was happy with.



So.... all my bee-mates' blocks from my "Looking Up" prompt are up on the design wall, and I'm mulling.... just what will it take to bring this quilt top together. I trust time will tell.