More Improv

Yesterday I had the excellent opportunity to take a class with Victoria Finlay Wolfe. I had seen her book before, but wasn't exactly sure what her process was all about. I've been feeling lately that I need to stop following patterns and start making my own quilts. I love the idea of improv. When I was in art school all those years ago, I was never very precise. My favorite artist was Matisse, especially the paper cutouts. When I'm knitting, the sweater has to fit, which is why I've never considered designing my own. Too complicated, but with quilting, it doesn't have to fit anyone, so why not go for it. 
My day began the night before, driving to my sisters house in New Jersey. There's been problems with the Metro North trains for the past week or so due to power problems. I didn't want to have to worry about getting in, so decided to bypass my normal route and go around. I'm so glad I did, got there on time no problem. 
Victoria's idea is basically that you take scraps of fabric and sew them together randomly to make your own fabric. You then take these and turn it into a quilt however you see fit. Lets just say that she had a few scraps for us to work with.



We spent part of the morning making our fabric. I got to try out the Juki straight stitch machine, which was also super fun. 

Then we had a lovely lunch, and chocolate of course! During the afternoon we used our fabric to make blocks or motifs. There were templates available, or you could wing it, as I did. 

We had a chance to look at lots of finished quilts, and get inspired. What a great way to spend a day, freeing your mind from all of those patterns, and using your instincts. Now I'm ready to go! You can watch the fun happening here.