Scattered - a finished quilt

I promised a few months ago that I would start sharing some of the quilt I've been making over the last few months. Obviously that hasn't happened yet - and I have about ten blog posts I'd like to share with you guys. I'm working and teaching patchwork a LOT more this year, and that has a lot to do with why I'm blogging so infrequently - most of the time it's a choice between sewing or blogging and sewing tends to win out every time ;o). Having said that, I do hope to get my shit together and start blogging a bit more regularly - you know, weekly rather than monthly. We will see if that eventuates!!

So today I'm sharing my favorite quilt I've ever made - Scattered. This quilt started as a class sample for a series of improv workshops I've been teaching over the last few months. I started out by just making blocks with no thought as to how they would fit together, and included all the techniques I wanted to teach in the workshops. After I'd made most of the blocks, inspiration hit and I decided to scatter the blocks of colour across the quilt top, creating what I hope is a really interesting quilt design.

I didn't use a ruler at all when I pieced this quilt, something I plan to do again. It is incredibly liberating to cut fabric free hand, and I love the organic lines it creates within the piecing. It also made it hugely fun to quilt. As much as I love the quilting I did on my Aviatrix Medallion, it definitely isn't my favorite way to quilt - it takes so much concentration and time to quilt like that on a domestic machine. I'm very pleased with how Aviatrix  turned out, and I did enjoy it to a point - but the quilting I did on Scattered was far, far more enjoyable.

As with pretty much all of my quilts, I went a bit nuts with the quilting. Improv quilts are just so much fun to free motion quilt! I think most of the fun comes from the fact that there are so many interesting angles in the piecing that can be reflected in the quilting.

Most of the quilting is grids of various sizes and shapes, with a few pockets of spirals, all done with free motion quilting. I don't use rulers (aside for occasionally marking a few reference lines) when I do this kind of quilting - and I think the slightly organic lines work really well with the piecing. A lot of these photos were taking while I was quilting it, rather than when it was finished - but nevertheless they show the texture the quilting has added to this quilt.

 I feel like I totally found my quilty groove making this quilt - and it generated so many ideas for quilts I'd like to make later this year. This quilt is more 'me' than anything else I've made, and I think that's why it was such a joy to make, start to finish.

I hope to be back pretty soon with a few other quilt tops I've made over the last month or two. Don't hold your breath though ;o)

xx Jess