Two Small Improv Quilts and FREE Pattern

My local library in Herndon, Virginia has a display case that is available for anyone to share a particular collection for a month. It was empty in November and I asked if I could share my Autumn themed quilts. They said, "Of course!" Here is what I put on display. It's hard to see all of them, but in my 30 years of sewing for the camera I've made MANY small quilts that fit perfectly for this.

November 2021 display of my small quilts in library

I had a display of Hanukkah and Christmas quilts for December; Winter themed quilts for January and figured I'd be done. Nope! The case will be empty for February and I thought of all my Valentine's quilts - but also of my improv quilts which were inspired by the Gee's Bend quilts I patterned in 2009 with Windham Fabrics.

I had given away ALL of the improv samples and larger quilts and had nothing to show. I got to work on Friday and made one using the Lazy Gal quilt as my guide. Here is my mini. Different colors from the original, but I only had scraps left from the Gee's Bend fabrics! I quilted it simply with my walking foot.

Lazy Gal inspired mini: 11" x 13"

It actually looks more like Medallion Variation, but hey - they both inspired me!

Then I realized I better have a second quilt. I got to work Saturday morning with the navy, medium and light blue fabrics and took my cues from the Housetop Denim quilt. This is a little bigger (17" x 17").

Mini Housetop Denim inspired quilt: 17" x 17"

I'm going to make half the display case a tribute to Valentine's Day and the other half to Black History month. I will be adding some of the African fabrics and curios I brought home with me when I lived there (in the mid 1970s)! I'll post a pic once I get this set up.

My daughter Audrey owns at least 2 of the older improv quilts I made for my classes. Do you remember seeing these?

Improv Mini from workshops in 2009-2010

This next one is called No Sneaky Peeky because of the set of exercises my students had using a paper bag filled with scraps, etc. Audrey also owns this.

No Sneaky Peeky sample

Fractured Jewels is a bit more controlled (also owned by Audrey).

And you can get the FREE pattern for the Fractured Jewels (a bit different) at the Windham Fabrics website. It uses their solids called Colonies and it's a little improv and a little structure. Here's how their quilt looks (which I also made).

FREE Fractured Jewels Pattern: 54" x 54"