Warm Houses {Improv Handbook Score #4}
I can't think of a time when I've had so many false starts with a project. When I decided to start sewing again this week, I thought about finding something simple and repetitive. Easy. But somehow, even though I knew improv sewing would be challenging, it still felt like the right thing for my soul.
First I chose colors: warm berries, bright reds, soft browns, a range of purples and pinks. After the cool-colored fans I had just barely managed to eek out early in January (also with a few false starts), these mostly warm colors seemed like a nice change of pace.
Working without a ruler, I sliced the fabrics into strips and sewed them into a string block shape. As soon as I trimmed up the block and popped it on my design wall, I yanked it right back off. At least I knew me mind. I confidently cut the block into quarters and played at arranging those pieces a bit before coming to an understanding. It was time to start over... again. Frustrating.
Here's what came out next. It's a play on the log cabin block. I'm using a darker fabric at center, which looks sort of like a door, and building the houses around the center in radiating analogous-ish colors.
Do you like it? I do! In fact, I liked this so much that I ripped apart those string blocks for pieces!
So good to feel successful at last! Two rows of houses went up before day's end. I love the way they look arranged in this mirrored setting.
And then I found a mini quilt composition of random squares in dusty mauve that had never come to a finish. It's the perfect bit of "different' to interrupt my houses.
Today when I add to this patchwork doodle, I want to bring in cool colors. My intention remains to use most all the colors in Denyse Schmidt Modern Solids fat quarter collection. With such a strong, warm row, it's hard to know how to transition.
The left side of the lower row of houses has a bit of extra space, so I threw together crumb scraps like so. Isn't that cute?
I love random scrappiness. Most of this patchwork doodle is going to have a controlled color scheme made up of analogous-ish color arrangements. Perhaps little bits of wild scrappy rainbows will be just the thing to fill in corners, use up scraps and pull the work together.
Yes, I think so.