The game based on the theme of dualism is now completed and the works made by participants are stunning! 

As usual, we asked some questions to the quilters who completed their work for the dualism challenge. We unexpectedly found some common understanding of what happens during our games, even if each of us is unique and improvisationally interprets the prompt in their own way.

 

We asked: “The theme dualism has a thousand options, how did you choose the one you made?”

@bettyoquilts wrote: “How did I choose? I spent some time thinking about the many options to express the dualism theme. I realized that the act of quilting itself was an expression of dualism through the use of fragments joined and unified through the process of quilt making. This guided my construction of the quilt top and decision to use an all over quilting design.”

@teajurin said: “Dualism immediately brought to my mind the double-faced behavior of numerous people with whom I have interacted during my many years on this planet.”

@silviafic8 explained: “I started thinking of two complementary colours, later I added a flow of order versus disorder.” 

@vallauro thought of the night, the silence, and, as a contrast, the feeling of finally finding hope and sun in a remote corner. 

@arttextiles included several themes: “This one I based on personal biorhythms, the influence of day/night, high/low frequencies, light/dark and the realisation of a dualistic universe.”

@sakura.quilting developed the composition in this way: “Take it or leave it, the title of my Quilt, just appeared in my mind before I could even imagine what the quilt would look like. It’s the first time this has happened to me. I feel I didn’t even have to decide about different options in the Dualism theme. The image of the river came later and then the making of the Quilt started.”

Our games are participative, a common journey. How was the work in progress made by others, seen by our game participants?

@auroraa1714 explained: “I love how every quilter sees the theme in another way, another perspective.”

@teajurin added: “Other quilters’ works-in-progress showed me that my interpretation of dualism was fundamentally different from others’; mine was psychological whereas the majority considered opposing physical characteristics.”

@arttextiles wrote: “I am very happy to look and appreciate the interpretation of others when my own is cemented in my mind and I am absolutely amazed at the different quilt interpretations from the one brief; human creativity is amazing, isn’t it?”

We think that sewing in a group helps to improve. @morphea80 agrees: “When I see the process of other quilters in the challenges, I always learn a lot from it. Ideas are formed for the next projects. Sometimes I’m amazed how an idea came about in the first place and then was implemented. For me this process is very interesting.”

We start to have “frequent players”. What’s the effect for them? 

For @arttextiles “This Duality Challenge was, in lots of ways, easier for me, as I tend to work on instincts and feelings when I am creating and the total freedom to interpret the brief.”

@patchbri had another impression: “This time it was more difficult for me than in the past games; still, I liked it: it was a different type of challenge”.  

For @silviafic8 “improv started to feel more familiar to me, after many games”. 

@arttextiles thinks that now her work is “more innovative and spontaneous”.

We agree: congratulations to all participants for the amazing quilts you can make and, as @bettyoquilts says about the results from the group, “the level of creativity is exciting”!

Thanks to all the quilters who replied to our questions, and to all the other makers who participated to our games, sometimes with more than one quilt! We invite you to review all the work in progress at #qisdualism Instagram page, and the improv quilts completed by the participants in the @quiltimprovstudio gallery.

During this year 2022 we made game proposals that were more experimental than the earlier ones.

How many can be the inspiration sources for an improv quilt? Infinite!

In the last game, Pop Improv Challenge, we asked you to use bright and strong colors, and to look at Pop Art aesthetics. Your mini quilts based on this prompt were great!

Let’s see how game participants viewed this challenge.

@auroraa1714 , before the challenge, didn’t like bright colors! She normally used colors that calm or convene nicely together. She said: “I had to search for scraps that were not nice for me, fabric or scraps that were there for a long time because they were too bright or with a strange design. I had a lot of fun looking at the fabrics in a different way!”

@amok18287 said: “I was nervous at first picking out such strong colors and tried not to think about the color wheel, complementary colors or rules. As the project developed I was pleasantly surprised to see how the colors bounced off each other instead of fighting against each other. At the same time, I limited the palette, there are no greens in my composition. I was worried too many colors would lessen the impact. I can definitely say that I am braver with color choices as a result of the Pop Improv game.”

Also for @aquilterstable the suggestion of a bright – even fluorescent palette – for the latest QIS challenge was a stretch. She explained: “I’d never used fluorescents before, and combining them with Rich Red felt unique, but was definitely fun to work with. The challenge was a good reminder to not be afraid of trying new things.”

@bettyoquilts, instead, had frequently used bits, or pops, of strong colors in her previous works. For her Nine Patch quilt made during the game, she proceeded in this way: “I stayed quite true to using equal amounts of all of the loud colors. I found that including a couple of shades of several fabrics provided a needed harmony: this would be lacking, if all nine individual fabrics were different hues.” 

Also @teajurin confirmed that bright colors cannot be thrown there randomly. In case of strong contrast, there is still need for harmony, and the amount of hues shall be limited, otherwise you risk having chaos. In her quilt titled SuperPOWer, she adopted an explosion of colors, and she really had fun in joining absurd colors to give an exaggerated and humorous effect.

Very strong colors have always been a passion for @dove_ti_porta_il_filo, even if she typically used them together with some neutral, to get a balanced effect. The request of this game was more extreme: it was required to dare! Now, she felt free to use only brights without any negative space. Thus, she rather applied the rule of balance to the composition scheme.

So, what about composition choice?

@therollingcat_ had already investigated pop art when @quiltimprovstudio announced this new challenge. She came across Sister Corita Kent, who mainly used screen printing, where she paired splashes of color and words, usually in her own harsh, angular handwriting, to express religious or universal themes, such as the “Love is hard work” screen print: an airy set of slightly curved stripes in primary and secondary colors, with the writing in black. A cheerful, lively, thought-provoking poster so famous that around the 1970s the US Postal service made a stamp out of it. The challenge #qispopimprov became an occasion to celebrate it again.

Other inspiration sources?

@quiltcreation discovered David Hockney’s work. And fell in love with his creativity and colors!

@patchbri caught this occasion to make a screen print style portrait, as she wished for a long time.

@mari.quilt put her square block on her design wall and let it marinate, until the a-ha moment arrived: her stripe of squares became “Comics pop”!

@aquilterstable, while creating her piece, was looking for a design feature for her improv forks, a key element of her plan. Her friend, Louise @imfeelincrafty, suggested that including a shadow or an outline might improve things, and that definitely did!

@arttextiles decided to use purely color and shape and not to be so influenced by the pop artists of that era, in their interpretation of basic everyday objects, or the onomatopoeia of the Marvel Comics. She kept the embroidered words low key, so as not to distract from the overall impact of the design.

@densyendehimmel found that the last challenge was perfect for her, since she always uses bright colors. But she struggled a bit with the combination of pop art and improv. One is a repetition of pattern and the other one is no pattern! She found a solution at last… and had great fun doing it.

What remains, after this challenge? @kathycookquilts feels that it was a fun diversion for her. Such high impact! And she added: “I’ll definitely try some of this also in the future.”

We thank you for your participation in our games, and for sharing the results of your creative juices: good examples for all of us to learn!
We invite you to review all the work in progress at #qispopimprov Instagram page, and the improv quilts completed by the participants in the @quiltimprovstudio gallery.

We wish you a good end of the year 2022, see you in the new year 2023!

Hi quilters! Our current improv game dedicated to “pop” colors and effects is ongoing, and all of you are welcome to join participants who have already started challenging themselves with such a theme. You can see their progress on Instagram, in the page dedicated to the game, under the hashtag #qispopimprov.

While you are thinking what to sew next, we would like to mention quilting events that are coming soon, as a feast for the eyes, and as a possible inspiration source!

Next week the doors will open for the wide quilting festival hosted in France, Alsace: the European Patchwork Meeting (EPM).

Some Quilt Improv Studio participants will travel to Alsace, and some of their quilts, made for galleries part of EPM, will be in the exhibits! 

Paola and Giovanna are visiting the festival on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th in September 2022; their quilts “East” and “Chaos” will be part of the Wide Horizons SAQA Exhibit in ESPACE DES TISSERANDS, Place des Tisserands 68160 in Ste-Marie-aux-Mines.

Maria Paz Avalos will fly to Europe to have her work “Bordar, cantar, amar”, and her contribution within the group quilt “Faces”, included in Chile Quilting exhibit, at ESPACE RAYMOND HESTIN, 47 Rue du Général de Gaulle, 68660 Rombach-le-Franc. 

Mattea Jurin will be present in person and with her work “Big girls don’t cry”, selected for the EPM international challenge Once Upon a Thread, in PAVILLON OSMONT, 8 Rue Osmont, 68160 Ste-Marie-aux-Mines. Award ceremony for the international challenge will take place on Friday, September 16th at 2.30 P.M. 

Also Pamela Nensi, another quilter who participated to Quilt Improv Studio games in the past, will travel to France in this occasion.

And you? What are your plans?

Keep an eye on Quilt Improv Studio stories on Instagram: more details on our agenda, and the possibilities to meet us there, will follow soon!