Quiltcon 2016 Member Charity Challenge

Now is the time to sign up to help us make our group improv quilt.

“Improv is more than sewing together random bits of fabric. You can take an idea, an image, or an object and translate it into a block or quilt via improvisational piecing.” - Cheryl Arkinson

If you missed the meeting last Saturday, you will have missed my brief presentation about our plan for the Quiltcon Charity Challenge. We will be participating as a guild, and it's our task to put together a group improv quilt. We have recently seen some amazing work by our members who have thrown themselves into improv either individually, or as part of our Round Robin and Modern Traditional workshops. So this is going to be a piece of cake for us!

YOU CAN DO THIS.

The Challenge gives us a palette of up to six colors to work with: white, off-white, sunflower, tomato red, light teal, grey and black. Looking at the palette, if we eliminate the white and grey, we have a group of colors which to those of at the meeting, really were evocative of Florida. In particular, Florida sunsets.

Our inspiration, and our palette.

Now that we have this beautiful inspiration, and a color palette, we are half way there!

Improv with intent is about working with some guidelines to create something without a pattern. The steps could be defined as

1. Find inspiration.  (Done!)
2. Curate your fabrics. (Done for us!)
3. Set limits. (We are limiting ourselves to a palette of five colors, as a starting point.)
4. Define your patchwork process.

We are going to define our patchwork process by guiding ourselves with a series of steps. The steps will also form part of our limitation. We will all work individually to create a block from the same series of steps, but because we are not using a pattern, everyone's work will be different.  The common factors - our inspiration of a Florida sunset, our color palette, and our patchwork process - will help to guide us all.

As an example, our first steps will be

• Yellow fabric - cut out a four sided shape, with one side being at least five inches long.
• Red and yellow fabric - cut out a variety of four sided shapes ranging in size from one to three inches tall. Assemble the shapes into two larger four sided blocks.

... and so on.

Every single member of our guild is capable of participating in this, and I sincerely hope that you all decide to participate. You will have plenty of support, and no judgement. Think of it as a special BOM. 

SFMQG will provide any member who wants to participate with a bundle of solid fabrics in the palette we are working with. The guild will pay for the fabrics. We will be asking everyone to complete one block by the beginning of December. We will then assemble the blocks into a quilt top, and then a fully finished quilt.

If you would like to participate, please check your inbox for a message from SFMQG and respond to that to sign up. Then watch your inbox for further instructions.

WE CAN DO THIS.

This is going to be so much fun!

Thank you!
Allison 

Improv Round Robin Workshop Encore

I just wanted to thank everyone who attended our first workshop on Saturday and made it such a success.  Also huge thanks to General Provision for providing the wonderful space for us, we had such a blast working in such a cool environment.  Thanks also to Tonya Ricucci for leading us through such a fun day.

I can't wait to see the final results when all of the participants complete their quilts!

Improv QAL - Block 4!

Can you believe we are halfway through our Improv Quilt-A-Long? We've been using TeresaDownUnder's Improv Quilt Block tutorials, which are wonderfully clear and easy to follow.

This month we have a fun block that starts with the idea of a log cabin and shows you how to make it in a more free form fashion. The piecing and gentle curves incorporate some of the things we've been playing with in the previous blocks. Just remember to relax and enjoy yourself!

Click here for the Improv Quilt Block #4 Tutorial!



Here are a couple of great improv quilty things going on right now that might interest you...

Have you signed up for our guild's Improv Round Robin Workshop led by Tonya Ricucci on Saturday, September 5? Get the details and register here (be quick - just a couple of spaces remain!)

Also, the bloggers Crafty Planner and Ants to Sugar are having A Month of Improv Quilting right now. Besides posting about improv quilting, they are having a fantastic Instagram giveaway (check out #improvquiltchallenge), and Crafty Planner's podcast features Sherri Lynn Wood (episode 24) and Jacquie Gering (episode 23) Any (and all!) of these links are worth checking out!

We're looking forward to seeing your blocks at the September meeting! Don't forget to check off your blocks each month so they count towards our grand prize! Also, we love seeing your blocks posted on Facebook and/or Instagram!

Improv Quilt-A-Long Block 3

It's Quilt-A-Long Thursday!

Hello dear quilty friends! This is Kerrilyn and Patti, bringing you the latest link for Block #3 of the Quilt-A-Long. We have been so impressed with how diligent and dedicated our QAL participants have been so far! (Check out the photo at the end of this post to see a bunch of the blocks at July's SFMQG meeting.)

Here's the link for Month/Block 3 (bring to August's meeting)!

This block has a little more "curvy" curve – but don't stress! Some people will feel comfortable pinning the curved pieces, but some of you daring gals may want to try minimal pinning – it's easy peasy once you get the hang of it. Just remember you need to keep a 1/4 inch seam allowance so you will need to line up both pieces with the 1/4 inch seam allowance on the right side of your presser foot and sew SLOWLY, keeping the seam allowance consistent and gently easing the fabric (don't overstretch). After finishing, clip the curve and press and your curve will be awesome.

We're looking forward to seeing your blocks at the August meeting! Make sure to check off your block so it counts! Also, we love seeing your blocks posted on Facebook and/or Instagram!

We can't wait to see you all at the next meeting! Have a great day!

Improv QAL blocks from July's SFMQG meeting

Improv Workshop led by Tonya Ricucci

Improv Round Robin Workshop: 5th September

led by Tonya Ricucci, aka The Unruly Quilter, author of Word Play Quilts.

We are very pleased to announce our first workshop, what we hope will be the first of many. 

The South Florida Modern Quilt Guild presents an adventure in improvisational quilting!

Tonya with one of her quilts at our July meeting.

Our instructor for this workshop is Tonya Ricucci, aka The UnRuly Quilter. Tonya has been quilting since 1987 and considers her style to be liberated and "non-traditional traditional" (think Gwen Marston, Gee's Bend, and string quilts). Tonya's popular website, Lazy Gal Quilting, full of tutorials and inspiration led to her equally popular first book, Word Play Quilts, which focuses on creating improvised words and numbers. 

In our workshop, participants will learn how to start a quilt using improvisational methods. They will then pass their beginning, and their fabric, to others to work on, one at a time. Each person will add a little piece of a "signature" fabric to their contribution, as a way of "signing" their work. Each person will build on each patchwork as it passed around, seeing the patterns that are emerging and building on it in their own unique way. The goal is to be responsive to whatever the patchwork is saying and to add to it in a cohesive way. 

The beauty of group improv is that it opens you up to ideas and “conversations” with other quilters as you work together and let the fabric flow. Participants will take their original starter block home, along with any additions to the quilt made by others. This will be the basis of a quilt which can be completed at home. This workshop is an excellent introduction to working with “improv with intent” and to understanding how to let your wonky side run wild. 

Participants will need to have good basic sewing skills and be familiar with how to operate their machine. Beginning quilters are welcome! Full details are below. 

Hope to see you there!

Allison Schnackenberg 
VP of Administration

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Improv Round Robin Workshop with Tonya Ricucci Details

• Location: General Provision, 525 NW 1st Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. 
• Time: 10am-4pm
• Space limited to 22 places. Register now to avoid disappointment.
• Cost: $50 ($40 for SFMQG members). 
• Early registration for SFMQG members only 23rd - 28th July.

Workshop requirements:

• A working sewing machine that you know how to operate.
• Basic sewing supplies = scissors, rotary cutter, seam ripper, thread etc.
• Fabric sufficient to make a quilt top approximately 50 x 65 inches
• A basic knowledge of sewing = straight lines, seam allowance, pressing and quilt construction.
• Beginning quilters are welcome!

Please note: early registration is open for SFMQG members only from 23rd-28th July. Non-members may register during this period; you will be placed on a waiting list on a first-come, first-served basis.

All registrants will be sent an invoice for the workshop fees, payment can be made via Paypal. You do not need a Paypal account, payment is by credit or debit card.

A full supply list will be sent to all registrants once payment has been received.

Register on our website.

Improv Patchwork Block 2 (for July Meeting)

Hey Hey Hey Quiltalongers!

 

Congrats for making it through the first month of the Quilt-A-Long! We were so excited to see so many of you participating and bringing your first month blocks to June's SFMQG meeting! It's so fun and interesting to see YOUR different interpretations of the modern improv block.

 

Here's the tutorial for month #2's block!  

 

Please note – there's a bit of a gentle curve in this block! (easing us all gently into the land of curvy piecing). Also, as noted in the directions, Patti had to "add" a section onto the side of her block to make it big enough. So start your project larger than you think. Those seams will add up over the course of the block.

 

Any questions? Problems? Suggestions? Please contact Kerrilyn or Patti! We would LOVE to see your blocks posted on Facebook or Instagram (#SFMQGQAL or just #SFMQG if that is too many letters!) and of course, bring them to July's SFMQG meeting for credit (remember, complete and bring five out of six blocks to our meetings and you get a special prize, along with all the oooohs and aaahhhs!)

Improv Patchwork Check-In

Hello my lovely Quilt-A-Long pals! This is Patti and on behalf of myself and Kerrilyn I'm checking in on how our first month's Quilt-A-Long blocks are doing. I've seen some amazing blocks posted on our Facebook and blog pages (and thank you for posting – we love to see your work!)  So…..any questions? Any concerns?  Anybody need a intervention for quilting outside her personal quilty comfort zone? If so – please don't hesitate to post your questions or concerns or hurrahs here – or message me or Kerrilyn on Facebook! I can't wait to see what all you talented folks come up with at the next SFMQG meeting on 06/202015!

Improv Patchwork Quilt-A-Long

At May's SFMQG meeting, Patti and Kerrilyn introduced our next Quilt-A-Long - Improv Patchwork.

Improv quilting is so popular right now, but this style may take you out of your comfort zone a little (or a lot). Typically, many of us work so hard to get our blocks perfectly pieced and squared. It's a challenge to "wonkify" (or "unwonkify?!") our brains, but this is why we chose this set of blocks! The QAL tutorials will ease you into improv quilting with easy-to-follow instructions, plus you'll get lots of encouragement from our group!

The SFMQG Improv Patchwork QAL will run for 6 months (June - November), featuring a different block each month based on tutorials from TeresaDownUnder's blog Sewn Up. You'll make your own blocks with your own fabric and you can do whatever you want with them when you're finished! Below are some of the blocks we made following the first tutorial (yes, these all follow the same tutorial!). 

Participants should bring their completed blocks to the SFMQG meetings, and we'll have a little prize for anyone who keeps up and brings in at least 5 of the 6 blocks. Here is the tutorial for Block 1, which you should bring to our meeting on June 20, 2015.

If you didn't get a chance to sign up yet and you'd like to participate, you can sign up here.

We'd love it if you shared photos, comments, or questions in the South Florida Modern Quilters Facebook Group (Members Only)!

As a bonus, please read this brief article - Why you Should Sew - Badly. We also highly recommend Sherri Lynn Wood's recent book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters! 

Thanks for your participation and we're excited to see your beautiful blocks at the June meeting!