A little more Improv…

I have done quite a bit of Improv quilting over the course of the last year or so…. for me it is a great way to dust off the cobwebs, particularly if I have lost my sewjo a little.

So this wonky log cabin was a fun project that started after I had collected a hug bag of navy scraps….

So I started with the navy scraps and as I begin putting the log cabin blocks together the navy seemed boring… it needed a little something to give it a lift. It just so happens that I had a small scrap pile of orange bits that were left over from another quilt and the navy and orange were the perfect combination.

The orange is the perfect contrasting color to the blue… these two colors are actually opposite each other on the color wheel…. which just enhances the impact of the color splashes.

The trick is to only put a few pieces of the highlight color in each of the log cabin blocks…. some of the orange is a full strip and other bits of orange are only inserted into the navy strip…. and I think those little splashes are the most successful pops of color.

Because of the randomness of the orange inserts your eye moves around the quilt more… hunting out those little splashes of contrast.

This quilt is also already out in the wild. I made it after the hospital said they needed a few more quilts for older teenage boys. I am a pink girl through and through but I loved the challenge of making something not too girly.

21 thoughts on “A little more Improv…”

Love this!!!

Blue is my favourite colour so I was won over even before I looked closer at this beautiful quilt. Thanks for the great idea of using that orange as a ‘pop’ colour – it really works and something I may try in the future. Merry Christmas Cath from a cold dull day here in the UK 🙂

So happy you are healthy and back! I really love this layout! Sarah Kirk

Pardon my predictive text typos! Sent from my iPad

What a beautiful quilt! Love it.

I love blue and orange. Nice quilt!

Love your improv log cabin quilt! So happy you’re back and sharing your work with all of us. Merry Christmas from Louisiana!

Great idea: love it! Thank you for the inspiration 🤗

Grea5 quilt. Lovely gift for the hospital. Masculine and cheerful.

Love that quilt! And a great non-gendered colour choice. So cheery with the brilliant orange inclusions. Well done there Cath!

This is fabulous!! So happy to be seeing some of your makes!

I love improv quilts the best! This one is a stunner! I like the limited palette; those wonderful dark blues against the pops of orange – sometimes I get sick of rainbow colored quilts. This has so much fun impact. Log cabin in any form is still one of my favorites – never get tired of it! So happy to see this; it inspires me!

I just love this quilt. It has wonderful color and you can’t go wrong with a classic log cabin quilt design being modernized!! Well done and I hope you have a Merry Christmas with family and friends.

This quilt is truly delightful! I love the orange against the blue. Really nice!

Perfect colors.. love it.

It’s like the quilt is full of Christmas lights in an evening sky… I see the pinkies are akimbo, as usual, but what on earth is happening there at the bottom of the quilt. Is he standing on stilts?

It is awesome! I am sure it made a teenage boy very happy. And the improv technique in this log cabin style is always great. I might put it on the fun project bucket list… Have a wonderful Christmas! xo