CHANGED THE FANS

 I changed the direction of the fans yesterday.  Today I sewed a some more of it together and changed out some of the parts that were bothering me.

IMPROV THAT BLOCK WORKSHOP

Today was the fifth, and last workshop in the Improv That Block Squad on Brave Patch with Sherri Lynn Wood.  Today we got to pick the block we wanted to work on.  Sherri provided some prompts that we could use (or not).  

I choose to continue working on the previous types of blocks we have made, namely the nine-patch, the fan block, and maybe some four-patches and more friendship stars.  And I continued making tumbler blocks as a filler.

Here is how I left it after the workshop:

IMPROV BLOCK QUILT

 I've been sewing on the Improv That Block quilt and finally sewed the challenging last Fan block into the rest of the quilt.  I've not really known how to do it, but once I just started it was not that difficult.  

And, then I went on to sew in some other challenging parts.  It's coming together.

STRINGS WORKSHOP

 This morning was the next Improv That Block workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood.  This month we are exploring String blocks.

I made two sets of strings, one dark and one light in value.  Then after the workshop I made this.  It's another Friendship Star block using those string sets.

I think it's moderately successful.  But, the good news is I have leftovers from the string sets to play with another time.

CHANGES

 My design wall is oriented horizontally.  I like quilts that are vertical, so I end up putting them up on the design wall sideways when designing.  Sometimes it's bothersome.  

I've been having this problem with my current project, Improv That Block 2026.

Today I wasn't satisfied with way the Fan blocks were and wanted to change them, so I put them up, took a photo, then reoriented the photo to vertical then decided if it was looking how I wanted or not.

I went through several iterations.  Here they are:

Lots of work to do now.

IMPROV THAT FRIENDSHIP STAR

 Today was Sherri Lynn Wood's Improv That Block Squad workshop on her BravePatch channel.  We were exploring the multitude of possibilities making a Friendship Star block.

Here is mine at the end of the day.  I put them up with my previous Block Squad work.  I think I'll be making more stars tomorrow to fill in some blanks.  And maybe even sew some of this together.  But, I'm not going to finish it until we've explored other blocks in the next few months.

CONTEMPLATING QUILTING

 I've been thinking about how I want to quilt Spider Legs.  I keep coming back to quilting it on the diagonal.  Which means loading it onto the longarm on the diagonal.  I've watched a few how-to videos on YouTube.

I think I might do it.  So, now I'm wondering how I want to quilt it.  I printed out a photocopy of the quilt and started drawing lines on it.

Since it's called Spider Legs, I thought about putting hairy spikey things on the legs.  So, one of the legs on the photo has straight spikes the other has curved spikes.  I'm leaning towards the curvy ones.  And then there's what to quilt in the black legs.

What do you think?  Any ideas or suggestions?  I'm open for input.

BACKING FOR SPIDER LEGS

 I've been procrastinating, but I finally finished making the backing for my Spider Web project.  I've named it Spider Legs because it doesn't look like a spider web anymore.  

I think I'm procrastinating because I don't know how I want to quilt it.  I've got a few ideas, but I haven't decided on anything yet.

HOURGLASS TOP FINISHED

It's done.  I finally finished the Improv Hourglass top.  

It's about 51" by 72".

There's lots of scraps, I think I'll sew them together and incorporate them into the backing.

REPLACED THAT BLOCK

 I spent the morning making a bunch of smaller wonky improv Hourglass blocks to replace that dark brown block that was bothering me.

I got it all sewed together, too.

Here's how it looked at the end of today.

Now, I think that left side looks a little bland, so I changed the bottom right corner.  

I think it's looking better now.

PIECING THEM TOGETHER

 I've been sewing more and more of these Hourglass blocks together.  

Here's how it looked at the end of today.

I'm thinking about replacing that large chunk of dark brown with something else.  

MORE HOURGLASS BLOCKS

 The Hourglass quilt is getting closer to the size I want as I add more blocks and move some around.  And sewing a few of them together.

WORKING ON HOURGLASS

 I've  been making Hourglass blocks in various sizes since the workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood.

Here where I am at the moment.

I added some more and took this photo in mono to see how the values are working.

NEW LOOK FOR SPIDERWEBS

 I made more Spiderweb blocks and as I squared them to the correct size I put them up on the design wall in a different configuration.

DIFFERENT CONFIGURATION

 I squared up the blocks on one side and then put them back onto the design wall in a different configuration.

Here's how that looks.  Now I need to make a bunch more blocks.

SNAKING AROUND

It is the Year of the Snake, you know.

So, here are all of the blocks I've made so far, up on the wall.

 

Now, I need to make more strip sets and make more blocks.  

A SNAKE OR A WEB?

 I thought I'd try to make snakes instead of webs.  Not sure if it will stay this way though.

CHURN DASH IS A TOP

 I finally got the Churn Dash quilt top sewn together.

Afterwards, I cleaned up, put all the unused scraps back into their proper buckets and moved onto the next project.

CHURN DASH PROGRESS

 I've been working on the Churn Dash a little bit, sometimes a lot bit, almost everyday.

And I'm making progress, sewing the parts and pieces together as I go.

STRIP SETS AFTER WORKSHOP

It was the next Improv That Block Squad workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood.  This month's block explores the Spider Web block.

We discovered two different ways to make the blocks. 

I worked on making my strip sets all day.

This is how many I have so far.

I choose to make my 'webs' in black in white for a couple of reasons.  One, the Black/White/Grey Scrap bucket is overflowing.  And two, I also remembered a memory from elementary school.  The teacher took us out behind the school in the morning, where the trees surrounded the playfield.  We took black construction paper and laid the wet spider webs on it then sprinkled flour or some kind of white powder onto them to capture a permanent record of our webs.  

Spiders are creepy, but I love the webs.