::Improvisational Path::

I’ve been asked over the past couple of years how Jacquie and I worked on designing the quilts for the book long distance.

( Photo above used with permission from Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting.  June 2012 Meredith Corporation.  All rights reserved)

Individually our improvisational design processes turned out to be similar in style.

We’d start messing with one of the seven techniques in the book to start.

Even the longest journey begins with a single step right?

Most often the process involved messing around a lot on the design wall with value and placement.

It was challenging to work within a certain colorway to keep variety in the book.

If it were up to me the whole book would have been blue and green.

We continually reminded ourselves to keep the design fresh and original.

Together we were sometimes overwhelmed with ideas or NOT.   One of us might have a lightbulb moment with the design or we had to simply settle with being the cheerleader for the other to keep going, an idea would eventually emerge.

I can’t tell you how many times we wished to be in the same room when we were stumped.

At times we would spend whole days messing with a design, but have no forward movement.  The polar opposite would happen with others and the design would seamlessly evolve.

This process would continue right down to choosing backing fabric and binding.

What a fun experience writing Quilting Modern with Jacquie has been.  We both learned and grew so much as artists.

I highly encourage you to find some quilting buddies to share the process with!

And just because you have a stack of fabric you started with, don’t think it has to end that way.

We hope the book encourages you to explore and challenge your inner artist too.

Happy Weekend!