For February, the Mighty Lucky Club "teacher" or "coach" was Season Evans and her challenge was all about minimalist improvisation. I haven't done much in terms of minimalism and improv scares me a little bit so I knew this month's challenge was going to push me way out of my comfort zone.
I decided to use scraps only for this challenge so started digging into my black and white basket. I chose this little bit of grey print as my focus fabric.
I then chose complimentary fabrics: a black and a grey solid and selected a number of contrasting fabrics in white and cream.
I must have moved things around a million times on my design wall, trying to find an arrangement I liked and which was minimal enough. In the end, I went with this arrangement:
When I posted it on Instagram, I got a number of really good suggestions for the quilting, including wavy lines to mimic the print in my grey focus fabric. But when I stitched a few lines, it really didn't look good to me on this mini. I use a straight-stitch machine so I don't have a fancy wavy stitch. I had to basically move the mini from left to right while stitching and on a quilt this small, the irregularities of the waves really showed and it didn't look good at all.
So I decided to go with straight lines with the walking foot, but to keep going with the improv theme, I stitched them randomly all over the quilt.
For the binding, I went with more white with just a touch of black.
This little quilt finishes at 18".
I'm really having fun with these monthly challenges. I'm super happy with both my mini quilts and look forward to the March email!
I will be linking up this finish with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and at Lisa's for TGIFF.
Izzy
I decided to use scraps only for this challenge so started digging into my black and white basket. I chose this little bit of grey print as my focus fabric.
I then chose complimentary fabrics: a black and a grey solid and selected a number of contrasting fabrics in white and cream.
I must have moved things around a million times on my design wall, trying to find an arrangement I liked and which was minimal enough. In the end, I went with this arrangement:
When I posted it on Instagram, I got a number of really good suggestions for the quilting, including wavy lines to mimic the print in my grey focus fabric. But when I stitched a few lines, it really didn't look good to me on this mini. I use a straight-stitch machine so I don't have a fancy wavy stitch. I had to basically move the mini from left to right while stitching and on a quilt this small, the irregularities of the waves really showed and it didn't look good at all.
So I decided to go with straight lines with the walking foot, but to keep going with the improv theme, I stitched them randomly all over the quilt.
For the binding, I went with more white with just a touch of black.
This little quilt finishes at 18".
I'm really having fun with these monthly challenges. I'm super happy with both my mini quilts and look forward to the March email!
I will be linking up this finish with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and at Lisa's for TGIFF.
Izzy
So nice! I really like your composition with just a bit of printed fabric. And good choice on the quilting - looks perfect to me!
ReplyDeleteIt turned out perfect! Your fabric colors are spot on for this mini!
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing your bias curves last month, I joined the Mighty Lucky Club immediately. I just love all the neutrals especially the white on whites which add a little something extra! Great quilting too!
ReplyDeleteI love the linear quilting you chose, Izzy!!
ReplyDeleteUn challenge par mois, ça semble très agréable. Mais avec de jeunes enfants, déjà une tonne d'idées en tête et un travail à temps plein, des trucs pour la guilde.... ouf, j'ai juste pas le temps. Mais j'aime bien regarder ce que les autres font !
ReplyDeleteChallenges are such good prompters to try new techniques! The improv compositon turned out to be very elegant. I hope you play more with these techniques.
ReplyDeleteI have been woefully unproductive in the Mighty Lucky department to date. Perhaps next month... Kudos to you for taking on a skill that scared you. We should all do that more often!
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool design and I love the quilting to boot. Just signed up for this series, your January challenge won me over! Bought the bias tape and haven't moved on from there! So cool.
ReplyDeleteGreat finish. I haven't even looked at February yet.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I love the improv with the minimal colors and the design.
ReplyDelete