Improv Quilting workshop at the Folk School

I’m preparing for a week of teaching Improvisational Quiltmaking at the John C. Campbell Folk School. The class is full (with a 7-student waiting list!) and I’m meeting up with my friend and sales associate, Susan, who has graciously agreed to be my studio assistant. 

Examples of improv patchwork quilts for the upcoming Improv Quilting workshop
at John C. Campbell Folk School.

A quiltmaking adventure in improvisation

No patterns, no rulers, no roadmap, and no plan… just free-form cutting, playing with color and line, a few guidelines, and lots creative piecing and inventive compositions is on the agenda.

Improv curves with free-motion quilting and hand stitching.

My workshop offers daily exercises in making pieced units to be used to build patchwork compositions, troubleshooting techniques, a special improv game, and inspiration from other improv quilters. I’ll be bringing a selection of lovely Painter’s Palette solid fabrics and a show and tell of my work. It will be a full week (and a full car)!

The Folk School campus is in a beautiful setting in Brasstown, NC and we’re all hoping for a week of good weather, good company, a fun learning experience, renewing past acquaintances, and making new friends.

Second Make Nine 2025 finish: Stress-free kitty quilts

Sixteen kitty quilts.
A Make Nine 2025 finish.

Yep, big pile of kitty quilts. 16 of them!

I’ve been working on these little quilts since December of last year—a time when I can purge outdated fabric headers and organize the scrap piles. 

Working in batches—either sorting scraps and orphan blocks, sewing patchwork units, assembling quilt tops, sandwiching and basting, free-motion quilting, and finally binding by machine—I tackle a few quilts (maybe 2 - 3) at a time. Once all the batches were completed, the final count was 16.

I’m counting this as my second Make Nine finish for 2025, in response to the “Simple and Stress-free” prompt.

Stress-free quilt making

Making charity quilts—especially kitty quilts—is a therapeutic sewing endeavor for me. It’s definitely simple and stress-free. I can play in the scraps, experiment with patterns and colors, enjoy improv patchwork, and practice free-motion quilting without the pressure of a deadline or needing to have a “perfect” outcome. It’s making quilts just for the fun of it!

Scrappy kitty quilts for local animal clinics. Make Nine 2025 finish.

Kitty quilts.

Several of the quilts incorporated orphan blocks and leftover units from other projects. 

Improv patchwork with scraps (left) and orphan blocks (right).

Each one finishes at approximately 25” x 27,” which fits the size of the cubbies at the clinic.

Improv patchwork.

Some of the quilts have flannel on the fronts and/or the backs to make them snuggly and extra soft.

Scrappy kitty quilts.

I love that they are so colorful!

Quilt fronts and backs.

Various flannels for the quilt backs.

Flannel backs.

Free-motion quilting and binding

It takes me approximately 40 - 45 minutes to free-motion quilt each one. This is probably the quickest part of the entire process for me. Sometimes the fabrics or the patchwork inspire a FMQ quilting motif, or I try out variations or combinations from my FMQ repertoire. It keeps me in practice. 

Scrappy bindings.

The bindings are scrappy as well. I attach them to the back, bring them around to the front, and stitch down by machine—frequently with a zigzag stitch.

Scrappy bindings.

For these quilts, a 40 wt. 100% cotton variegated thread for the zigzag stitching shows up well for the bindings. The color changes blend and accent the fabrics of the top.

Not quite enough! A small piece was inserted to complete this binding.

For these quilts, I went through 9 bobbins of 50 wt or 60 wt thread; matching the thread color with the color of the backing fabric.

Front and back of quilts.

Make Nine 2025 finish—16 kitty quilts and counting

This is my second Make Nine finish for 2025. I’m sure I’ll make more kitty quilts throughout the year and will add the documentation on my tracker. I love making these quilts and the animal clinics appreciate them, too.

Make Nine 2025 tracker. February 2025.

Sixteen and counting for 2025.

Sixteen finished kitty quilts for the animals.

Orphan blocks, spare parts, make scrappy charity quilts fast and easy

One of my favorite types of quiltmaking project is finding a use for leftover and orphan quilt blocks. Early this year, I decided to take several lonesome quilt blocks and spare patchwork units and make them into charity quilts for the kitties and doggies at our two local animal clinics.

Orphan blocks

The orphan blocks included: 1) test blocks using a hexagon ruler; 2) three kaleidoscope stack-and-whack blocks;

Hexagon orphan blocks.

3) a friend’s discarded class project from a foundation paper piecing class, and half-square triangles from discontinued fabric samples;

A paper pieced medallion and half square triangles.

and 4) two demo tic-tac-toe blocks illustrating a slice-and-insert patchwork technique.

Slice and insert blocks from a demonstration.

Quilt top assembly

To accompany the orphan blocks, I pulled several coordinating fabrics. Here is an example of a fabric pull for the slice and insert blocks.

Coordinating fabrics for orphan quilt blocks.

I decided to cut the blocks into pieces in order to spread the floral print across the quilt top. Then I began to lay out the top for piecing.

Laying out the quilt top.

Working with spare parts—especially the hexagon-shaped blocks—is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. The first step for the hexagon blocks was to add corner pieces and turn them into rectangle units.

Adding triangle pieces to the corners of the hexagon blocks.

This made them easier to incorporate them with other fabric pieces and sew the patchwork together.

Trimmed blocks ready for the quilt top.

Here are the two quilt tops using the hexagon blocks. They are a mix of cotton prints and batik fabrics. Whether a printed cotton or a batik… if the color and value are right, I will use it.

Quilt top made with stack-and-whack orphan blocks.

Quilt block using orphan hexagon blocks.

The square medallion unit made a good center for a large star block. It was paired with the half square triangle units.

Quilt top made with a class practice block and HST units.

Finished quilts

The puzzle pieces have been put together. The tops were pin basted and free-motion quilted.

Finished quilt with hexagon blocks.

I have a stash of scrappy bindings that I make and with leftover 2.5” strips and trimmings. The bindings for my charity quilts are attached all by machine.

Finished quilt using hexagon blocks.

The orphans class project served as the center of the star quilt.

I had some ombre fabrics that made interesting bindings. The bindings seem to glow.

Orphan quilt blocks cut and then reassembled into a quilt.

The “glowing” binding can be more easily seen from the back.

View from the back: free-motion quilting and binding.

I’m happy that these orphan blocks have found a purpose and are no longer languishing in a box! The patchwork and quilt top assembly was quick and easy because of the finished blocks. These quilts will go to two local animal clinics. The clinic staff—and of course the animals—are always happy to have new quilts to snuggle.

Day 30 of the 100 Day Stitch Book project

We’re 30 days and 6 pages into the 100 Day Stitch Book with Ann Wood. This stitch Challenge started on January 17.

Pages 1 and 2 of the 2025 Stitch Book.

Using fabric scraps and leftovers

It’s satisfying for me to pair my leftover scraps from various improvisational patchwork projects with improv hand stitching to create these small 5.5” x 7” pages. This project is giving purpose to my improv scraps. I thought these scraps might find their way into another improv patchwork project, but in this little stitch book, they are the stars of the show. It’s so fun!

Pages 3 and 4 of the 2025 Stitch Book.

I’ve got a mix of fabrics for the base pages—a blue cotton/linen blend from Art Gallery Fabrics and a few 100% cotton yarn-dyed wovens from Diamond Textiles.

Pages 5 and 6 of the 2025 Stitch Book.

The threads I’m using consist of variegated cotton sewing thread, perle cotton, embroidery floss, and an 80 wt. soft poly for the appliqué. I’m using basic, familiar stitches: running stitch, blanket stitch, French knots, seed stitch, feather stitch, back stitch, and an invisible appliqué stitch.

The backs are colorful and interesting as well.

Backs of pages 1 and 2.

Backs of pages 3 and 4.

Backs of pages 5 and 6.

This is the start of page 7.

Page 7 of my 100 Day Stitch Book 2025.

I’ll work on this page for five days and then start another one.

Junk Journal January: first Make Nine finish for 2025

Junk Journal January is a wrap! I’m counting it as my first Make Nine 2025 finish to fulfill the “Online Challenge” prompt.

Make Nine 2025 tracker. Online Challenge prompt

Journal format and page spreads

For JJJ 2025 [Junk Journal January 2025], I made a square format, no-sew journal. 

No-sew junk journal.

After getting into the daily process of answering the prompts, I found myself creating compositions in 2-page spreads. Sometimes the composition was in response to a single prompt…

Day 30 prompt: fabric

… sometimes it combined multiple prompts.

Days 24 and 25 prompts: line and modern.

I liked working in a larger, 2-page space. Paint, color, and collage were used to unify the background. Similar marks were made across both pages, and often the spreads incorporated text, quotes, or poems relating to the prompt(s), that were hand lettered on the pages.

Days 26, 27, 28 and 29 prompts: movement, crumpled, sealed, and reveal.

Materials and techniques

For this year’s junk journal, I used techniques that I used in the past: acrylic and watercolor painting, collage, hand lettering, and drawing, and an occasional use of a rubber stamp. I did experiment with solar paste and stencils this time—on Day 18 with the “bright” prompt. Solar paste is a fun art supply and is very effective on a black background.

Solar paste medallions made with paste and stencils.

Starting with Junk Journal January in 2023, and followed by Junk Journal January and Junk Journal July in 2024, Junk Journal January 2025 is the fourth journal in my collection.

Junk Journals from 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Wrapping up the final week of Junk Journal January 2025

Today starts the last week of January and the final week of Junk Journal January 2025 Challenge. This Challenge has been an exercise in “showing up and doing the work.” Travel and long, busy days as a fabric rep sometimes leaves me tired and uninspired… that’s when the commitment to the process kicks in. Paraphrasing Picasso, “Exploration and creativity happens, but they must find you working.”

Day 21 prompt: map

Here are a few of my favorite journal pages and spreads from the month that started off somewhat mediocre, but turned out very well.

Days 6, 7 and 8 prompts: embossed, tuck spot, and antique.

After prompted to use tissue paper on this spread, the tissue paper was used again on other pages.

Days 20 and 21 prompts: tissue and map.

On the recommendation from a friend, I experimented with solar paste, a new-to-me art supply. It was used along with a stencil to create the medallions on the left-hand page of this spread.

Days 17, 18, and 19 prompts: fragile, bright, and bubble.

William Morris is one of my favorite printers, typographers, and designers. The aesthetic of the Arts and Crafts movement resonates today as much as it did back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Days 24 and 25 prompts: line and modern