Artful Improv- a special sneak peak!

Have you ever wanted to try modern quilting?

On my wild tour of the quilt stores around Atlanta, Georgia, I found (and fell in love with) a new book called Artful Improv. Do you remember? I mentioned it in my story about my visit to InTown Quilters…

As I was playing around on Facebook, posting pictures, and sharing my excitement about Artful Improv, I bumped into the author!!!!!!

(SQUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Just give me a minute to fan-girl, here!!!! Because- because- because I got to chat with Cindy Grisdela…. AND SHE IS AWESOME!!!!!)

Cindy’s book is warm, and inspiring, and makes you feel like you can sit down and quilt anything you want to. In one beautiful book, she hands you all of the tools (and clarity) you need to confidently dive into the world of contemporary quilting.

This quilt is called A Little Citrus, and Cindy uses this quilt as an example of inset strips. She explains that the narrow inset strips in the wide band provide you eye a place to rest, and she offers several other quilt examples to help you understand how to apply the concept in other contexts.

As Cindy and I chatted back and forth, I asked her (ok, I begged a little because I REALLY love this book) to share a few thoughts on her work.

Here is what Cindy says about her gorgeous book:

Thoughts on Artful Improv – Cindy Grisdela

I’ve been quilting for over thirty years–first as a traditional quilter doing everything by hand, and over the last 15 years evolving into a more contemporary modern style.

I’m a big believer in the idea that everyone has the ability to be creative. I’ve traveled all over the country for the last 10 years showing and selling my work at fine art and craft fairs, and I’ve talked to hundreds, if not thousands, of art lovers, hobbyists and aspiring artists of all kinds. One thing that really struck a chord with me from these conversations is the idea that many people want to be creative, but they aren’t sure where to start. Or they think there’s a “creativity gene” somewhere that they lack. I think it’s more a mindset of allowing your creativity to blossom–taking the time to play with fabric and color, exploring a new idea, and being willing to learn from the things that didn’t quite work the way you thought they would.

It’s my hope that this book will unlock the creativity puzzle for those quilters, as well as those who have more experience but would like a “road map” to help them take the next step on their artistic journey.

Artful Improv is like having a trusted friend or teacher by your side as you explore your own creativity. It offers friendly guidance as you work through exercises to come up with original work that reflects your own tastes, experiences, and personality. Whether you’re a novice quilter or an experienced artist, you’ll find something here to make your next quilt better.

The main point of the book is using simple principles of design to create original art quilts. It isn’t a pattern book per se, more of an inspirational guide for how to move beyond patterns to do your own work. I offer five different units that I use in my work, tips about color and design, and lots of pictures for how to put them together.

There are chapters on color and design, on organizing your fabric, on making units like improv blocks, curves and stripes, tips on how to put the units together into a unique quilt, free motion quilting ideas on using negative space to create texture, and alternative finishing techniques. And there are lots of pictures of quilts I’ve made, as well as those of my students.

One of the things I like best about the book is the tag line on the back – “Permission to play? Granted!”

Artful Improv really has me excited about trying some new ideas in quilting. Cindy is so warm and approachable on the page, she makes me feel like I can push my own artistic borders by applying her tools to my own quilting projects.

Look at this gorgeous quilt of Cindy’s:

This is Sunset Boulevard, and I just LOVE the way Cindy uses the machine quilting to add movement to the large blocks of color in this quilt.

This is a close up of the machine quilting on Starry Night. As you can see, the movement and gesture of the machine quilting plays an important roll in the finished quilts.

The process of creating a quilt gives us the freedom to explore ourselves as artists, and as women. Cindy gives us permission to play with our art-form.

Go try something new this week!

Jan

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