C'est la vie: { Improv quilt }

Here is my first attempt at improv quilting!
Honestly it felt so good I can't really put words on the experience.
It all started when I got this book from Amazon, after listening to a podcast featuring the author, Sherri Lynn Wood.
I found her intriguing and really wanted to look into her book to see what she was really on about!
And, oh my reader, honestly! I never would have thought that quilting could be so freeing, so artistic and creative.

What I really love about the book is that she does not provide patterns per se, but "scores": 2 or 3 guidelines to kick start your creativity. And then : off you go!

For me what happenened with this quilt top is that I was trying to put some order in my fabric and made a pile of the three main fabrics totally by chance: that gorgeous night blue, the beautiful gold-mango yellow and the gorgeous Art Gallery orange. I thought they looked awesome together, and started cutting into them, with no rulers! going with the flow, raw by raw, enjoying the piecing progress without thinking about perfectly matched seams!

During the piecing process, I let go of my fears, of my quest for perfection. It was not easy and often I felt something like :"Who are you to think you can make your own pattern here? Who are you to think you can create something unique, without following the rules?!"
Honestly, there was a lot of that involved. But the author of the book does incourage you to follow your creative instinct and to let go of your fears.

I also tried to apply her method of "yes... and": which is to say: now that I created this row, or this block, I am going to make it mine and say: what's next? what do I feel like adding to it? what would go well with it now?
Honestly : so good!

I quilted it almost all with my free motion quilt foot. I am a total beginner when it comes to free motion quilting. But I though this crazy improv quilt was the perfect place to start experimenting.