Quilt It Wright - Part II

Quilt It Wright - Part II
Piecing the quilt top
(part I here )
My improv quilt process inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture masterpiece Fallingwater



Improv piecing for me is a process of building and assessing.  I add, step back, and ask myself - is this where I want this to go?  Is it enough?  Too much?  From the beginning of this project I wasn't afraid to add or subtract or go in a new direction.

I started with 7 squares and rectangles that would make up my focal pieces.  I chose a gradation of blues and pieced a section of background around each one.

I built around each block with some of the colors that I discarded as background (see previous post ) but still wanted to use in the quilt. After adding a piece to the block I would put the block back up on the design wall to get an idea of how my quilt was growing and if I wanted to add more to the section, where should I add each piece.  It was a long process, but necessary to see each new addition up on the wall with all the pieces as a whole.

After adding background I began to feel that the whole piece was too busy and going in the wrong direction.  I made a few changes at this point, that I know were the right decision.  This is how an improv piece can grow and change as you work with your fabrics and colors.
(before changes)

(

I eliminated two of the blocks, bringing the total blocks down to 5 and I shifted the top most block to the right side instead of the left.  I am much happier with this layout over the first one.  

I added vertical pieces to the top, to reflect the tall vertical chimneys of Fallingwater.
I also incorporated white horizontal strips, I kept seeing the white balconies of the structure and wanted to see these in the quilt

Above is the top all pieced together 

The last step is to add the tumbling blocks.  I made these from all the different blues of Oakshott I had available.  I added a very lightweight fusible to the back and fused the shapes to the squares.  Early on I had decided to add the fused pieces after I had the top together.  While it would have been easier to add them in the beginning, with so much handling of each block I realized that the lightly fused pieces would be falling off as I built up the quilt top.  

Next up - Quilting!
Thank you for following along on my process

Part I Inspiration HERE
Part III Quilting HERE
Part IV Faced Binding HERE
Part V The Finished Quilt HERE