Tackling the UFO Pile

Sue has spent the last  couple of months finishing some UFOs - of course having some deadlines helped.  One of those UFOs she calls Primary Improv - it is a modern improvisational quilt that she finished to submit for the "Heritage Redefined" exhibit at the Virginia Quilt Museum.  This exhibit of modern quilts in Virginia is being curated by Susan Emory.  Results of the jurying are expected to be announced next week.  The exhibit will be on display from September 5 to December 16.

Sue's quilt got it's start last year in a class on improvisational piecing with Rayna Gilman, author of Create Your Own Free Form Quilts.

We started out making building block units, taking strips and sewing them together randomly, inserting strips into more solid blocks, and just "playing".  No measuring required, uneven shapes and sizes are better, as well as curved or "wonky" piecing.  Repetition of colors and fabrics is important to unify the blocks. 

This is the piece Sue ended up with at the end of the day.  When she decided to finish this to submit to the exhibit, her first thought was adding to the outside to make it bigger.  But after attending a lecture by Cindy Grisdela, another improv quilter, she decided it needed some solid or almost solid insertions to provide more places for the eye to rest - there's a lot going on here!

This is how it looked after opening the center seam, inserting a new section, and adding some borders.  The next challenge was quilting.

With so much piecing in the main body of the quilt, it seemed best to keep the quilting here simple (diagonal lines) and save the fancier stuff for the more solid areas.  Using a variegated thread (King Tut by Superior) shows off the free-motion quilting.

Above is the finished quilt.  You can click on it for a larger view and a better look at the quilting.  We'll post an update next week with the results of the jurying.