Let's be real here people, I love me a pattern. I feel creative through patterns and am ok with it. Am I less of a creative person because of it? Who knows, but I really don't care. I like what I like! That being said, I wanted to challenge myself, step outside of the proverbial comfort zone and try something new.
Our first piece was trees. Val wanted us to piece a tree. Not scary, until it became clear that I would not be provided with measurements. Just cut a trunk about "so big". You want me to do what? But how do I know if it will work? How will I cope without my ruler? I wanted to sneak up to the teachers table and measure her sample. Legit right? NOT! I needed to break out!
So we had trees, and I did not spontaneously combust, my ruler did not hold a grudge, things were looking up. Then a house was born...and a churn dash...all bravely without measurements. But then, things really started to cook. Letters!
This was when I found my groove. Truth be told, this is really why I wanted to take the class. I want to make word quilts and wanted to know how to piece letters. By the time letters came I had put my ruler under the table and was slicing randomly. I felt awesome! The whole process gave me hope - hope that I could be creative without a pattern!
These are all of the components that we made in class. Next step will be to make some "joiner" pieces and make this into something. It may be a wall hanging, it may be a quilt. Who knows? My ruler doesn't know, and is wishing me luck!
I have to thank Val for such a wonderful class. This was her first foray into teaching and I think she was sweatin' it! But she was born to be at the head of a class, I can't wait for the next one.
Are you a pattern girl, improv girl? Either way, have fun out there!
Adrienne
I laughed put loud when I read this. I am SO left-brained. I rarely sew without a pattern cooking with no recipe scares the living daylight out of me. But I have tried improv piecing log cabin blocks and loved it! Your little blocks look amazing and I cannot wait to see where you go with these. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove your description of the process. I did chuckle as you could be writing about me. Give me a pattern!! Love the blocks you made and look forward to seeing more.
ReplyDeleteYou know I was right there with you...physically and mentally. I did, too, enjoy the letters. I'm happy with my pieces. It was fun to the share the journey with you.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found your groove! It was a great day!
ReplyDeleteI have ventured out of my comfort zone once. BUT I have not let myself go completely yet. I like what you have done and may have to just let loose.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Your work looks great, and I'm glad you had fun. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love it all! It is a little scary to work without boundries....but it all turned out great.
ReplyDeletePattern girl. I tried improv once but found it a bit tedious. I love traditional blocks, although I'm pretty confident using a pattern as a starting point and my creativity gets fed playing with the endless variations possible in colour, shape, and value.
ReplyDeleteWay to go for taking a risk with improv piecing! Though it is sort of funny that you're doing it well after the finish of ModQImprov. How on earth did you manage a year's blocks? :) As for me, I love both patterns and improv. But there's something about improv that makes me feel like I'm really creating something all my own.
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