Warm Houses {Improv Handbook Score #4}

I can't think of a time when I've had so many false starts with a project.  When I decided to start sewing again this week, I thought about finding something simple and repetitive.  Easy.  But somehow, even though I knew improv sewing would be challenging, it still felt like the right thing for my soul.

First I chose colors:  warm berries, bright reds, soft browns, a range of purples and pinks.  After the cool-colored fans I had just barely managed to eek out early in January (also with a few false starts), these mostly warm colors seemed like a nice change of pace.

Working without a ruler, I sliced the fabrics into strips and sewed them into a string block shape. As soon as I trimmed up the block and popped it on my design wall, I yanked it right back off.  At least I knew me mind.  I confidently cut the block into quarters and played at arranging those pieces a bit before coming to an understanding.  It was time to start over... again.  Frustrating.

Here's what came out next.  It's a play on the log cabin block.  I'm using a darker fabric at center, which looks sort of like a door, and building the houses around the center in radiating analogous-ish colors. 

Do you like it?  I do!  In fact, I liked this so much that I ripped apart those string blocks for pieces! 

So good to feel successful at last!  Two rows of houses went up before day's end.  I love the way they look arranged in this mirrored setting.

And then I found a mini quilt composition of random squares in dusty mauve that had never come to a finish.  It's the perfect bit of "different' to interrupt my houses.

Today when I add to this patchwork doodle, I want to bring in cool colors.  My intention remains to use most all the colors in Denyse Schmidt Modern Solids fat quarter collection.  With such a strong, warm row, it's hard to know how to transition.

The left side of the lower row of houses has a bit of extra space, so I threw together crumb scraps like so.  Isn't that cute? 

I love random scrappiness.  Most of this patchwork doodle is going to have a controlled color scheme made up of analogous-ish color arrangements.  Perhaps little bits of wild scrappy rainbows will be just the thing to fill in corners, use up scraps and pull the work together.

Yes, I think so.