We have had a lot of exposure to improv this year with lectures and workshops- David Owen Hastings, Cindy Grisdela, Amy Friend, and more. Use your inspiration to participate in our August challenge.
Quilts must be completed with quilting and bound. Quilts must measure no less than 18″ per side.
Three prizes will be awarded based on member voting – Best Improv Quilt, Best Modern Quilt, and Members’ Choice. The dates to remember are submission open July 29 until August 13. There will be an online form and you will need photos (by phone are great). The voting will be August 16 right up till our meeting on August 26. Be part of the fun. Let us see what you can do. Improv is such a great brain puzzle!
Maker: Jason Titus
Maker: Susie Johnson
Quilt Name: Happiness Doubled
Quilt Designer: Susie Johnson
Quilt Description: This is my improv quilt from Cindy Grisdela’s workshop, Improv Puzzle Quilt. I used all scrap fabrics from my stash, and that makes me happy! I also love the fabric color combinations and that also makes me happy to look at it 🙂
Improv Techniques Used: free-hand rotary cutting with no set pattern except for the improvised log cabin-style blocks
Maker: Jeri Polizzotto
Quilt Name: I’m Not Afraid of Storms
Quilt Designer: Carol Lyles Shaw
Quilt Description: One of my favorite things about this quilt is the color palette. I started with a large scale print and dyed greys, blues, and purples to go with it. Working with Improv is a lot of fun although I sometimes have mixed feelings about the end product. It kind of makes me want to sew a nine patch or something that is more structured! This quilt is measures 72″X72″ I quilted it on my home machine using my walking foot.
Improv Techniques Used: Improv Curves and stack and whack
Maker: Lisa Handley
Quilt Name: Marge Tucker Log Cabin Improv
Quilt Designer: Lisa Handley
Quilt Description: This is the quilt that was the result of the Marge Tucker Improv workshop.
Improv Techniques Used: Improv and Log Cabin
Maker: Mary O’Bannon
Quilt Name: Just a little Fun!
Quilt Designer: Mary O’Bannon
Quilt Description: I had fun with the workshop from Cindy Grisdela. I liked adding the black and white for fun!
Improv Techniques Used: Vivid colors, change of size and just let’s try this approach.
Winner for Members’ Choice
Maker and Quilt Designer: Gail Sevilla
Quilt Description: Using fabrics from 1978 until the present, I was able to finally house these children and let them come out into public. I want to thank the book Collaborative Quilting by Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston for inspiring this over 15 years ago. They let me know that not everything in quilting had to line up and be uniform.
Improv Techniques Used: improv house blocks framed with improv strips, improv triangles and log cabin
Maker: Maritza Rodriguez Farr
Quilt Name: Improv Orange Pop Puzzle
Quilt Designer: Maritza Rodriguez Farr
Quilt Description: The bright orange fabrics really pop in this quilt. The white on white fabric a well as the green fabric, used in small quantities, have dots that provide a nice contrast to the geometric shapes. I used a bright orange Aurifil thread for quilting.
Improv Techniques Used: Techniques from our workshop with Cindy Griselda were used.
Winner for Best Modern Design
Winner for Best Representation of Improv
Maker: Sam Saturday
Quilt Name: Terrace
Quilt Designer: Sam Saturday
Quilt Description: As a lover of vintage Disneyland, Terrace was inspired by the stained glass backing of the original Tomorrowland Terrace stage, where musical acts have performed through the years. I borrowed some of the shapes, then chopped them up to create negative space. I quilted it was I went, borrowing from mid-century patterns.
Improv Techniques Used: Improv applique, improv quilting
Winner for Best in Show
Maker: Susan Manson
Quilt Name: SuperSpreader
Quilt Designer: Susan Manson
Quilt Description: Using planned and unplanned improv techniques as well as taking cues from the fabric design itself, the composition evolved intuitively over many months. By using mostly ruler free triangles in various colors and values from both sides of the fabric, I was able to create movement across the quilt directly correlating to news of super spreader events causing a disproportionate rise in COVID-19 transmission rates. The rectangle structures represent those who were safer at home and in their pods. Finishing this quilt with facing allows the design to fall off the edge, expanding the design concept of the virus transmission.
Improv Techniques Used: Planned and unplanned improv, alternative grid, ruler free piecing, matchstick quilting
Maker: Nikki Constantine
Quilt Name: Tuckered
Quilt Designer: Nikki Constantine
Quilt Description: This quilt is a compilation techniques and blocks from the OCMQG Marge Tucker workshop.
Improv Techniques Used: Strips, curves, pieced curves, insets, modern log cabin blocks
Orange County Modern Quilt Guild 
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