Doodle Doodle: Improv Handbook Score #4

All finished! This is Doodle Doodle, an improv quilt made entirely without rulers (except for the backing and binding) and inspired by the fourth score of The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters. Author Sherri Lynn Wood prompts us to reflect and share about our finished works along these lines:

Doodling is hard for me. I thought following this score would create a sense of release, being that it is entirely dictated by one's mood, an invitation to follow your own creative rabbit trails. Instead I kept starting and stopping, second guessing every decision. The wide open possibilities made me feel lost. I think this is exactly what some people experience who struggle with improv in general. The process would have been easier for me if I had set more of a goal or direction from the get go, but that would not have been true to the score. And, this quilt would never have come to be.

Even though my Doodle quilt is chaotic because of all the variation in shape and scale, I was able to soften the noise somewhat by working in color families. Notice how each house block or whirl block is made up of colors near bye on the color wheel: orange and yellow, pink and red, etc. Or I paired a cool color, such as purple, with a cool gray neutral; whereas, my warm pinks go with warm browns. The half square triangle blocks are also grouped in warms verses cools. I feel this tactic creates little oases of peace, even if the work as a whole is a riot.

The fabrics I used are all from the Denyse Schmidt Modern Solids collection from FreeSpirit Fabrics. Amazingly the box set barely looks touched. I could make so many quilts with these fabrics!

My favorite inspiration was to contrast the white/pale gray half square triangles at top left with a flock of dark gray/black half square triangles at top right. I like how light and dark come together in a hard line. The clouds really can roll in so fast. A storm. A downpour and we're soaking, until suddenly that too is gone.

I'm also fully pleased with the way the back came together, particularly that I used up nearly every small scrap from the quilt top making and orphan blocks to boot. Creative economy always excites me.

I'm fairly dissatisfied with my failure to enjoy the making of this quilt. I started piecing when Eleni was doing very well, post surgery on one of my work days apart from her. I wish I was with her that day. All of the rest of the quilt was made soon after her death. Probably making something so personal, so emotional couldn't be very enjoyable in that time of my life. Of course, that doesn't mean it was not an important thing to do.

{Next Steps} This score was about "Letting Go of Expectation." I think for the first time in my life, I've actually learned how to do that, to let go. I've found when you do that it's not so hard to live in the moment, for it's clear the moment is all you have. Along those lines, I haven't thought too much about what I'll do next, even when I'll start the next score from The Improv Handbook. So, let's just wait and see. Today is today.