Design Wall Friday – DWF
Posted on March 18, 2017 by Beth Markel
What’s on YOUR design wall?
Last weekend I moved all of the pieces of my sister’s quilt off to one side so I could tackle a short project from the Improv facebook group set up to go along with Sherri Wood’s Improv for the Modern Quilter book. It’s the 2nd challenge so far this year, and it calls for easy-to-follow parameters (score – like the conductor would use!).
Here is the “final” outline for our next group score, #2017score2, THE SCRAP STASH ELIMINATOR!!
LIMIT 1: Pull orphan blocks, never pieced blocks, or a pieced top (or all 3!) that you just never loved enough to finish. Chop it up, slash it, separate it, reconfigure it, overdye it, etc…manipulate it in any way you like to form the foundation of your new piece.
LIMIT 2: Use any of the fabrics from your scrap bin to develop out the rest of your design.
Any prints you use should ONLY come from your scraps.
LIMIT 3: You have the option to purchase TWO SOLIDS specifically for this project to help balance it/fill it out. THIS IS NOT REQUIRED — your scrap stash might have plenty of multiple solids to work with — just remember: if its in your scrap bin, then its fair game!
(Solids can be new yardage, thrifted garments, fabric you bartered for…whatever your own definition of “purchase” is!)
LIMIT 4: Utilize contrast “grouting” to join the more randomly shaped, or unevenly sized sections.
As with #2017score1, there is no hard start/finish date, just complete your score within 30 days of starting it to keep the momentum going.
So I randomly picked 2 stash containers, had Darling Husband pick 2 random solid fabrics, and this is what is on my design wall – the flying geese blocks were all together in a Ziploc bag in the bottom of one of the totes, along with miles and miles of strips, mostly from very wide fatbacks, 110″ or close to it, cut off of a completed project once it was quilted, but before it was bound. Some of the smaller strips were binding strips, and some were fall off pieces from other projects. Because there was a rather odd or eclectic mix of patterns, I thought the simplest thing to do would be to cut into smaller strips and create strip panels – no rules, no rulers! Not really sure where this will end up, but I’ll have it done by next week so I can get back to my sister’s quilt…tribute quilt…unfinished conversations.
#2017 Improv Challenge #2 – Stash Buster
It’s so funny – I didn’t realize there was a leftover piece from an old Stack-n-Whack quilt on the upper right hand side of the photo…oops! Guess I’ll have to cut that up and use it in this, too!
Cheers,
Beth
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