Friday 18 April 2014

Improvised arrow

This year, I'm participating in a quilting bee that's a little bit different from most. We have two months to make a 12.5" x 60" (or equivalent) improv strip for the queen bee, based on a Pinterest board put together by the queen. The bee members have complete creative control over what they make, apart from the background fabric which is chosen by the queen bee.

Our January/February queen was Gemma who blogs at Pretty Bobbins (and is also FMQ obsessed - you should definitely check out her amazing quilting skills!) and gave us this Pinterest board for inspiration. I really struggled to decide what to do for a long time, but ended up thinking I'd make some improv cross blocks in rainbow colours. I cut my coloured strips, and then at the very last moment decided to try something a little different, inspired by the amazing mini quilt by Lu Summers in Gemma's board.


Gemma's strip

Once I got started, I got a little obsessed with getting it done. I know I say this every time I do improv piecing, but it really was SO much fun to make. I think I need to expand on this idea and use up a tonne of my scraps sometime soon...

xx Jess

14 comments:

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Jess that is so cool! Really effective!

Katy Cameron said...

Interesting concept for a bee, that worked really well :o)

nicole said...

Looks awesome Jess!
You definitely need to expand on this!

Leanne said...

I love it, and what fun for a bee.

Annabella said...

A very cool bee and a very cool block!

Rachaeldaisy said...

You're going in the right direction with those arrows! I like the sound of the way the bee is working, a great idea to use pinterest.

Rosemary B❤️ said...

Rosemary B here
This is very very exciting.
I love the pattern and the colors.
This is pretty cool.

I am excited to see the end result in the future!

DeborahGun said...

That is one inspiring Pinterest board! Love what you have made - such a great idea.

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

Oooooh, lovely, off to follow the links!

Francine said...

I'm obsessed with your strippy skills!!!

Vera said...

I love the color order but that unmatched center part would drive me crazy :) I guess improv is not for everyone.

Heather @ Winding Bobbins said...

Really cool! I love that dark background.

laura west kong said...

Sounds like a fun bee! Love what you did for it!

Cheryl said...

Very cool quilt row, I love the improve!