Last Friday, I took a plane East to New York where I spent a craft weekend with Denyse Schmidt and Heather Ross in the Catskills. There was a small group of us (12? 13?) staying in a large house, laughing, making, eating, drinking, stitching, talking, making jam until Sunday afternoon. Everyone could work on whatever they wanted to explore. It took me awhile to decide what to take along, but in the end I decided on Denyse's Proverbial Quilt pattern.

I decided that I wanted a very scrappy looking quilt. I chose a bunch of low volume prints from my stash and decided that if there was ever a time to use all the Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope hanging around, it was for this. When I mentioned my plan to Denyse, she immediately said, "You can improv that pattern, you know."

And when Denyse tells me to improv, I do it.

Using the pattern as a guide, I sliced and diced my fabrics into strips. I rustled up some paper bags to pull the fabrics from so I wouldn't over think color and pattern and then I just sewed. The first few letters took some time to piece as some were a little short and others had to be cut down. But once I got the hang of it, it was liberating and fun.

Often when I am working in my studio, all by myself, with my head down and eyes focused on what is right in front of me, I get a little tunnel vision. Improv sewing opens me up creatively and making the beginnings of this quilt was enjoyable. It is so important for me to remember to play and have fun. This is what it is all about. And making letters improv style was challenging in the best way. I love wrapping my brain around these kinds of puzzles. Let me tell you, I was pretty damn proud of my "M".

I left the Catskills on Sunday afternoon with new friends, renewed enthusiasm and the beginnings of a VERY large quilt. It's going to take some time to get this one completed, especially with other projects that have firm deadlines on the horizon. Maybe I can a letter or two when I have time? Or a word a weekend? Regardless of when I finish, I am so excited about this quilt and all its possibilities.

Thanks you Heather and Denyse for a wonderful weekend. It was just what I needed.

I'm excited to be participating in the blog tour for Betz White's newest book, Present Perfect! It's a great sewing book filled with a variety of projects perfect for gift giving. As we enter autumn and get closer to the holidays, this book will come in handy for all of your gift giving needs. It contains a wide variety of projects for everyone on your list - men, women, the home, babies and children!

When it came time to choose which project I wanted to make, there really wasn't a choice for me. I mean, how could I not choose the Hot Mitt House & Tea Towel set?!? I love how cute it is and how practical, too. Making and giving potholders as gifts is something I do often.  They are great scrap projects and are fast to put together.

The hot mitt was a quick sew. It took me about an hour from start to finish - awesome! The tea towel took about the same amount of time. I probably could have been faster had I made quicker decisions as to what fabrics to use! Regardless of my indecision, both projects don't take a lot of fabric so there isn't a big commitment material-wise which is great when you want to make a small gift. I also loved that I was able to use some scraps and treasured bits from my stash. You could get super creative with small variations to cover almost any conceivable holiday. How about a gingerbread house for Christmas or a spooky haunted house with a fussy cut ghost or witch in the window and door for Halloween. So fun!

To learn more about Present Perfect, check out Betz's fun trailer. You can also purchase your own copy through the Interweave store or on Amazon (affiliate link). For a look at other wonderful projects from the book, follow along on the blog tour.

Happy Home
1.  Sew Mama Sew – Make & Bake Apron excerpt – Mon, 10/6
2.  Stacy Sews – Falling Leaves Appliquéd Placemats – Tue, 10/7
3.  House on Hill Road – Hot Mitt House & Tea Towel Set – Wed, 10/8
4.  A Happy Stitch – Sweet Life Pillow – Thu, 10/9
 
Memorable Moments
5.  Sew Sweetness – Wool Courier Bag – Fri, 10/10
6.  Raspberry Sunshine – Gentlemen’s Travel Case – Mon, 10/13
7.  Pink Chalk Fabrics – Pasha Pleated Clutch – Tue, 10/14
8.  The Long Thread – Eye Candy Glasses Case – Wed, 10/15
9.  Made with Moxie – Cargo Tablet Sleeve – Send finished book – Thu, 10/16
10.  Bijou Lovely – Coffee Cash Coin Pouch – Fri, 10/17
 
New and Little
11.  Flax and Twine – Forest Friends Finger Puppets – Mon, 10/20
12.  Imagine Gnats – Bib, Rattle & Burp Baby Set – Tue, 10/21

5 minutes.

10 to 15 fabrics in a cohesive palette all from my stash.

Myriad possibilities.

Collection and Designer, clockwise from top left:

Hatbox by Alexia Abegg, Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt, Unknown navy dot, DS Fabrics for JoAnn's (three prints in a row), Katie Jump Rope by Denise Schmidt, Geo Style by Kei Fabrics, Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt, Hatbox by Alexia Abegg, Unkown navy gingham, Pezzy Print by American Jane Fabrics.

There is still time to enter the giveaway for Malka Dubrawsky's Creative Live class! I'll be drawing a winner on Sunday night. Have a great weekend!

My friend, Malka Dubrawsky, is getting ready to film a class on Creative Live called "Ten Ways to Love Improvisational Quilting." Are you familiar with Creative Live? It's a great platform to learn so many new creative things. You can watch classes for free while they are streaming the live filming - this allows you to participate from the comfort of your own home. You can post questions that the instructors answer and, because the classes also have a live in studio audience, you get the benefit of listening in on some discussion, too. And if you can't make the class while it is streaming, you can purchase it to watch when you have the time to devote to it. Cool, huh?

Malka's class is next week (October 8 and 9) and I am so excited to watch it. I have been a long-time admirer of her work and find it to be incredibly inspiring. I know that this class will be a treasure trove of good tips and a great jumping off point for my own work. Malka has an amazing eye for color and pattern and her approach to quilting is fresh and modern. And I'm doubly excited because I love improvisational quilting. There are so many ways to approach this fun technique and I'm looking forward to how Malka approaches it in her own work and how I can take what I learn and apply it to my work.

As a little warm up yesterday, I decided I would do an hour of improvisational piecing. Looking around the studio for some raw materials, I found a small pile of narrow (1") Liberty scraps. I sewed strips in sets of three and then chopped them apart. I pulled a fat quarter of pink crossweave cotton from my stash and cut some random strips and started adding them. The first block got two strips of pink on adjacent sides. I really liked the way that looked, so I kept doing the same thing. When the hour was up, I stopped. I'm not sure where this is going (mini quilt, maybe?), or even if I will continue to do anything with it, but I walked away very pleased with what I had done. I especially like the idea of taking small, almost unusable pieces and combining them to make something with greater substance.

There is nothing that recharges my creative batteries like improvisational quilting. The freedom, the spontaneity, the quick decisions, the play  - all those things that happen when I am sewing fabric together without over-planning and over-thinking - are so freeing. I am continuously looking at quilting in a new light when I improv. It's inspiring when it's good AND when it's bad so regardless of the actual, tangible results, I always walk away with something good - a possibility, an idea, or, heck, even a quilt. Win-win.

I hope you take the opportunity to learn from Malka. Creative Live is generously offering a copy of Malka's class to one of my readers. To enter, please comment on this post before Sunday, October 5 at 5pm EST. I'd love to hear if you improv quilt and, if so, why. You can also follow along on the rest of the blog tour to hear more about how other quilters are inspired by improvisational piecing and quilting. Good luck!

9/30 Modern Sewciety

10/2 Fresh Modern Quilts

10/6 Cheryl Arkison

10/7 Wise Craft Handmade