The 2024-25 Winter of Care and Repair concludes

Participating in the Winter of Care and Repair Challenge, held from the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox, makes me mindful of taking time to extend the life of textiles, home goods, garments, and other useful items. It also makes me keenly aware of upcycling and recycling efforts, keeping things out of landfills, and minimizing unnecessary waste.

The toe of one sock mended with a wool mending thread.

How I fared with the Challenge 

This Challenge started last December and ended this month on March 20, the Spring Equinox. My pledge for the 2024 - 2025 included textile mends and repairs, upcycling and repurposing, organizing my fabric stash, using scraps (rather than tossing them), and office tidying.

The zipper seam in a pillowcase

Mended zipper seam.

Textile mending

This winter, I did manage to mend a few garments and household textiles:

• mending a hole in a pair of socks,
• repairing the zipper seam of a pillowcase,
• reinforcing seams in pants and shorts,
• mending several worn or torn patches in a vintage quilt.

Holes and shredded areas of a vintage quilt.

Appliquéd patches over the worn areas.

Upcycling/recycling

I upcycled/recycled old paper sales materials and paper catalogs into two Junk Journals. I gifted one to my cousin and used the other in this year’s Junk Journal January Challenge. I continue to use my junk journal for slow drawing, watercolor play, and hand lettering.

Junk Journal made with recycled papers.

Here is a flip-through of one of the junk journals.

Fabric scraps

I didn’t get much fabric stash organizing done, but did complete 4 scrappy kitty quilts in December and donated an additional 16 kitty quilts to two local animal hospitals at the end of February. The quilts were made of orphan quilt blocks [a repurposing effort], discontinued fabric samples, fabric scraps, and the bindings were pieced and scrappy as well.

Scrappy quilt tops for charity quilts.

Two additional kitty quilts went to our gang of outside tuxedo kitties—to care for the fuzzy ones at our house.

Scrappy quilt bindings.

I’m also using fabric bits and scraps from various improv quilting projects in this year’s 100 Day Project, the 2025 Stitch Book with Ann Wood. Here is one of the pages.

A page from my 2025 Stitch Book using fabric scraps.

Office tidying

The response to this goal wasn’t as prolific as I had hoped for the home office, but I did do a a clean-up of my “mobile office” (my car). The vacuuming efforts in the back where my sample suitcases go, and the carpets in the front seats were welcome sights!

Care and Repair take-aways

Jeanna, from The People’s Mending [@thepeoplesmending], is the creator of the Winter of Care and Repair challenge. She wrote a synopsis of her 5-year experience and posted a list of take-aways. The ones I resonate most with are:

• It’s going to take less time than you think.
• It’s going to take more time than you think.
• If it’s worth repairing, it’s worth repairing right… even if you have to redo it.
• Repairing is caring.
• To speed up, slow down. Or, “the hurried-er I go, the behind-er I get.”
• Practice makes better: the more you do, the more you learn, the better you get.
• You can do anything, but not everything, and that’s OK.

I try to remember to give myself the grace to do what I can. Because all the small acts do add up.

A week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School—Part II

We had such a wonderful week with improvisational quiltmaking at the John C. Campbell Folk School that I wanted to post a few more favorite moments from class.

Mari’s cute little pincushion.

Kristen decided on the background fabric.

Charlotte mastered skinny strip inserts.

The improv process and how the work progresses

There is always a first step with any new endeavor… actually, many first steps. Before taking that next step, you may have to stop to think about the options… before continuing the journey.

Contemplating…

With each improv exercise, students created patchwork units and put them up on the design walls. As the week progressed, the compositions evolved, were edited, and fine tuned. In my previous post about this class, you saw many “finished” pieces. But it’s always interesting to see the beginning and intermediate stages along the way—the options, turns, forks in the road, and yes, … sometimes the “unsewing.” 

Sue’s improv triangle piece.

Carol’s triangles, wedges, curved and strip piecing. Will they end up together?

Early progress with strips and rectangles (Mary Anne’s piece).

Mari brought in fabrics from her godmother’s clothing. She’s going to honor her godmother, Buggie, by making a bed quilt with the fabrics.

Getting a sense of the colors, prints, and values of the fabrics.

After doing research in books from the quilting studio’s library, Mari found a quilt block pattern that she wanted to use as the basis her design. 

Sketches, notes, measurements.

Here are the first sample blocks she made to test the measurements and construction.

Improv quilt blocks made from clothing.

For June, the patchwork from the curved piecing exercise turned into a striking background after she decided to take the rotary cutter to it.

Curved piecing.

A new composition.

Gwen found inspiration for another piece after we did the improv game. Here is the beginning of her Sawtooth Star block.

The improv game inspired the start of a new piece for Gwen.

The quilting studio

Photos of the work space from the week.

Contributions to a Folk School 100th anniversary project

The Folk School is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The celebration begins in 2025 with the Fall Festival and continues through the summer of 2026. Our improv quilting class contributed quilt blocks to a community quilt project that the Textiles and Natural Fibers department is organizing. Here are two of the blocks we contributed.

Improv block for the community quilt project.

This improv block for the community quilt was made entirely 
from fabric scraps found in the classroom.

We still make things!

One of the quilted wall hangings in the Community Room at the Folk School says, “We still make things.” I love this! Here are the hands that make the things.

The hands that make.

We still make things.

We make things with our hands.

The hands that make.

We still make things.

Below is one of my favorite photos of hands. You can discover a lot about a quilt top’s construction by examining the back.

Examining the construction.

Favorite comments from students

• Students found the inspiration presentations very helpful. One person said the presentations were the workshop “fertilizer” to spark ideas. (Fertilizer is only good if you spread it around, right?)

• Check the Spare Parts Division! Even the weavers from the adjoining studio took advantage of our scrap box.

Geri Forkner, the weaving instructor in an adjacent studio, encouraged students in her
“Runs with Scissors” class to raid the scrap bins in other studios.

• At the end of the week, I was labeled as being a bad influence… because now students are saving the smallest of scraps! (I think this is a good thing.)

Show and Tell

I bring examples of my improv work for a Show and Tell with my students. It’s fun to revisit these quilts and share their stories with a new audience.

“Blue Rhino Moon” improv quilt.

Below is “Guitar Strings Improv,” the quilt I made in 2015 that was featured in Sherri Lynn Wood’s book, “The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.”

“Guitar Strings Improv” from The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.

The process for “Alone Together” (shown below) is documented in this post. The quilting is documented in this post, and includes the quilt stats (information about threads, thread weights, batting, and how long it took to free-motion quilt it).

“Alone Together” was a Guild Challenge quilt.

I had a fun time sharing the improv quilting processes with my students. And I was so inspired by the work they accomplished in just one week. Thanks for a wonderful experience!

A fabulous week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School

Last week I had the pleasure of teaching Improvisational Quilting at the John C. Campbell Folk School with 10 talented, inquisitive, and adventurous students, and my friend, Susan, as our studio assistant. It was a prolific week of color, pattern, and innovative piecing and patchwork, at a picturesque, nature-filled setting in western North Carolina.

Improv Quilting class display at the Closing Ceremony, John C. Campbell Folk School.

Ruler-free cutting: abandoning the rulers

Mari cutting one of her strip sets.

The first order of business in improvisational quiltmaking is learning to cut fabric freehand with a rotary cutter and NO RULER. We started learning this the morning of the first day.

For today’s quilters who are accustomed to using acrylic rulers and acrylic templates with gridlines and measurements to make patchwork, it may take a little time to get comfortable with this skill. 

By the afternoon of our first day, however, these fearless students were masters of the technique! Several commented how liberating it was and they “may never go back to a ruler…”

We worked on cutting strips, making custom stripes, inserting strips into wider rectangles, and combining strips to make other patchwork units.

At the end of the first day, the design walls began to fill with color and patterns.

Strips and stripes.

Strips, inserts and reassembling.

Strip sets and strips inserted into rectangles.

Strip exercises.

And if you can’t decide what fabrics to choose for various exercises… just take a look at what you’re wearing. The subconscious at work? Seredipity?

June and her coordinating strip set.

Mary Anne brought her hand-dyed fabrics to class.

Sue’s top matches her strip set.

Geometry and improv patchwork

As the week progressed, students learned various cutting and piecing techniques to make patchwork units—curves, quarter circles, and several triangle units. Do you remember your high school geometry???

Improv curves and triangles.

Improv curves, triangles, and wedges.

Improv triangles at play.

The improv patchwork compositions evolved on the design walls. With each new lesson, it was interesting to watch compositions change, grow, and develop from morning through the afternoon and into the evening. Each day brought a new path to explore.

The Improv Game

One of my favorite exercises in this week-long workshop is a game of improv. This time, a neutral color palette was the result of the roll of a die. We pushed the neutral color palette just a bit to include a light salmon, green tea, and fog (a dusky violet) solids [colors of Painter’s Palette by Paintbrush Studio]. Students chose 5 or 6 fabrics to use for their quilt blocks.

Making fabric choices… don’t over-think it!

Pushed neutral color palette.

Fabric bundles were cut and distributed…

Pushed neutral fabric bundles ready for cutting and piecing.

… and the freehand cutting and piecing processes began.

Freehand cutting.

Classic quilt blocks were created using improvisational methods. Block names included Eight-pointed Star, Hour Glass (two versions), House Top (log cabin variation), Quarter Log Cabin, Sawtooth Star, Propeller (Rail Fence), Shoo Fly, Quarter Log Cabin, and a Star Block.

Improv versions of classic quilt blocks.

Tips, demonstrations, and resolving construction dilemmas

Many of the students commented that basic sewing/piecing/quilting tips that were mentioned and demonstrated in the workshop were so helpful. Whether you’re new to patchwork or a long-time quilter, it’s good to be reminded and refreshed about basic techniques—pressing to set the seam, spinning the seams, pressing vs. ironing, etc.

Demonstrations.

And I try not to let students go “out on a limb” in their patchwork without a safety net or a way to resolve construction conundrums. We talk as a group and I meet with students one-on-one to discuss ways to get around any construction challenges they are having with their pieces. 

Discussing piecing challenges.

Figuring out “patchwork construction” is a fun part for me as it’s like putting a puzzle together—without having the puzzle box cover that shows the end result. 

Discussing the composition. Audition. Stand back. Edit.

Presenting the work

At the end of the week, students have the opportunity to talk about their piece(s)—how they chose a color palette, what surprised them, if/how their perception of  “improv” changed from the beginning of the week until the end.

Gwen was surprised by all aspects of the improv process. She said the exercises helped
 to broaden her pieces. Gwen plans to quilt her piece by hand with big stitch.

Mari prefers a calming, neutral color palette. She found the improv process pushed her creativity
resulting in the addition of raspberry and burgundy colors in one of her pieces.
(But check out the sweater she’s wearing!)

Lisa said “her colors picked her” and not the other way around.
She found the grey fabric to be a good solution to resolving the composition of her piece.
She plans to “up her game” with free-motion quilting to finish her pieces.

The green/red/black color palette surprised Sue.
In the future, she wants to loosen up her piecing by making and using larger blocks.
She plans to expand her quiltmaking in more non-structured ways.

Carol, a garment sewer, learned a new vocabulary and is excited about using “quilting” tools
in future projects. She stretched herself in her choices of color
and plans to take a beginning quilting class to expand her skills.

Mary Anne’s hand-dyed fabrics provided a unique depth and texture to her pieces.
She was pleasantly surprised to learn she now likes freehand cutting with the rotary cutter!

Charlotte challenged herself with this color palette. By “letting go” of planning the color and fabric
 placement of each unit, she was surprised and pleased where the colors appeared in her project.
Charlotte plans to write a tanka poem about the meaning behind this piece.

June let go of “precise piecing” to be more free with cutting. She is inspired by the Gees Bend quilts
 and learned that it’s OK to cut into patchwork that wasn’t exciting to her.
She is pleased and excited about the pieces that she cut up and then reassembled.

Deborah started with fabrics that were not her favorites, but pushed herself and discovered
that she did like the color and fabric choices in the end.
Her previous work was more linear, but has now found an appreciation for curved piecing.
Deborah enjoys hand sewing but is contemplating whether to finish these pieces by machine.

As a more traditional quilter, Kristen was used to grid-based layouts. Free-form layouts are 
new to her. Techniques such as curved piecing inspired her “botanical” themed composition.
 Kristen plans to machine quilt her piece.

As you can see, it was quite a productive week!

Wrap up and final thoughts

It was indeed a wonderful week of Improv Quilting at the Folk School! In addition to learning improvisational cutting and piecing techniques, basic sewing tips, and gaining inspiration from the demonstrations that were given, the overarching comment from my students was the camaraderie they felt from each other, our studio assistant, and me during the week. I will say that the Folk School values—joy, kindness, stewardship, and non-competitive—definitely sprang forth this week. 

Keep “Singing behind the Plow.”

A big Thank You to each of my students for brining an open mind and sense of curiousity to class, and for just being yourselves. It was a delight to get to know you all! Thank you to Susan, my assistant, for taking photos, the copious note-taking, and keeping our studio space tidy. Thank you also to the Folk School staff, the behind-the-scenes personnel, and our Textiles and Natural Fibers Coordinator, Allie, for all the support, and for paving the path for an enjoyable and educational experience. 

——

For more photos of the week, see Part II blog post.