Quilting is in my Blood

My May 2020 One Monthly Goal is to make a bright and happy quilt top that will become a quilt for my bed which I hope to have finished in time for me to enjoy this summer. It will definitely be a comfort quilt as 2020 has been an exceedingly challenging year thus far for us all, and it will feature some of my very favorite fabrics including the background fabric which is Avant Garde Bauhaus Dissection by Katarina Roccella and some gorgeous saturated prints by Alison Glass and Guicy Guice, along with many other bright prints in my stash. I first saw the Blithe quilt in this blog post by M-R Charbonneau@Quilt Matters. I had some Bauhaus Dissection fabric in my stash but not nearly enough to use as the background fabric for a quilt, but last October I was thrilled to find six yards at  Lark Cottons, and I will definitely use a lot of this wonderful low volume fabric in my version of the Blithe Quilt. I’m planning to make the quilt wider, so it fits on my full-size bed. I think the final dimensions will be about 72.5 x 72.5. Below are 8 half-square triangles that will be used in this quilt:

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: May 2020 OMG.

When I read Sarah Goer’s post at the beginning of this month, Show Me Something Improv, I did not have anything improv to share because generally I tend to gravitate toward more structured designs. But I thought it might be fun to play with my Alison Glass Kaleidoscope scraps and create an improv table runner for the shelf next to my bed. Initially I wanted it to be a two-sided runner that would feature a turquoise-blue-lime color scheme on one side (that would go with my Tranquility quilt) and a riot of bright colors on the other side (that will go with a future quilt project), but I wasn’t able to get it basted well, and the quilting puckered, so I ripped it out after only having quilted two lines. I decided to focus on the squares that go with my Tranquility quilt, cut another piece of Kaleidoscope Raven fabric as backing, did a much better job basting it, and ended up being super happy with the quilting, which mimics the piecing.

The two squares on either end were sewn in the more traditional improv manner (which is somewhat of an oxymoron!), and I made a simple paper-pieced pattern for the center square.

Thanks, Sarah, for the inspiration to get out of my comfort zone. Be sure to check out all the cool improv projects at the Show Me Something Improv Linkup.