This is the quilt that I started yesterday in our guild sponsored workshop titled, “Improv Under the Influence” with Krista Hennebury.  We were to bring 12 – 5″ x 5″ charm squares from each of 5 fat quarters of warm related, solid colours and the same number and size of squares from each of 5 fat quarters of related, cool solid colours.  I picked purples with my daughter in mind as purple is her favorite colour and greens because green is my favorite colour.  My design wall is still occupied with my Strip Stacks queen size quilt so I taped these pieces to my cupboard door to take the picture.  The bottom purple strip still needs to be trimmed and sewn to the rest of the piece.

This vibrant pink and green quilt is Krista’s quilt and one of the sample quilts that she brought along to the workshop.  Krista’s describes her technique as building improv strip units that can be used in many different projects including wall hangings, place mats, table runners, pillow covers, and quilts.  This technique would be suited to making improvisational piano key borders that could be added to any modern quilt.

Krista told us that her quilt was inspired by an unnamed antique quilt that she saw on display in Bellingham, WA during a 2012 show titled, American Quilts:  The Democratic Art.  Krista described that quilt as one large Courthouse Steps block using scraps of various cotton and polyester prints that appeared to come from women’s clothing and scraps of wool that appeared to come from men’s suits.  It was this contrast between the men’s and women’s clothing that led Krista to think about the contrast that results between cool and warm colours.

Although Krista did not have a photo of the quilt that inspired her, I was able to find a picture on the internet of what I believe was that very quilt.  This picture was found on a blog called, Nifty Quilts.  Through some other searching, I believe I have located pictures of the other quilts that were part of that exhibit of quilts that was shown at the Whatcom Museum from August 4 to October 28, 2012.   The description of this quilt is, “African-American Log Cabin Variation, c 1950-75 from the collection of Roderick Kiracofe.”