Improv...Kaja style

I may be wrong but I think I've figured out Kaja of Sew Slowly and AHIQ fame. Before we get too far, though, let me tell you that every quilt on this post is Kaja's and every picture comes from Sew Slowly, with her permission. Now, indulge me for a moment: 

In this post Kaja writes about her starts and stops on the quilt top she is currently working on. Kaja is a rare gem. She works intuitively from the start. That's rare, I think. 

Most quilters begin with something in mind--a pattern, a combination of fabrics, a challenge--something. We begin there and play with the something in our heads. We call this play improv and it absolutely is! But it's not improv from the start: We play with that something but hold on to the essence of it. In a "come hell or high water" sort of fashion, something from the original idea will still be there when the quilt is bound. 

Findhorn

Kaja begins with the fabrics. She writes, "My usual method is to pull out literally everything and just keep auditioning until I find something that I like." One fabric speaks to her and she runs with it from there...auditioning fabric, playing with pattern (both fabric patterns and the size/shape of blocks) and continues fiddling until she has something else she likes. 

It's not at all surprising when she tosses back a fabric or chooses another because she's running low and won't be able to finish the quilt. She builds perfectly good blocks, rips them apart and rebuilds them. She likes to fiddle.

She's "fiddly" to the very end, even after decisions are made, blocks are complete, every seemingly usable piece of fabric is in the quilt. No, there always seem to be "bits" that she can find and those become something else entirely, and she figures a way to get them into the quilt. Even if it means taking things apart, again.

Lighthouses

But she can also be a bit more traditional and begin a quilt with a big idea. Her lighthouses come to mind immediately. In one of our emails, she wrote, "I occasionally have in my mind that I would like to use a version of, say, hourglass blocks, but mostly that idea goes out the window once I actually get down to do.  I have found, with the exception of the lighthouses, that starting with any sort of plan rather scuppers me: I don't like it when I try it or I get stuck trying to force something to work.  No plan just seems to suit my sort of brain."

As I was reading her blog earlier, an analogy of Kaja's improv style struck me: She travels lightly when she quilts. Consider a journey. For her, improv is like traveling Europe on a college student's budget. What a wonderful way to go. Have you ever listened to a young person who talks about his/her trek? There never seems to be a bad experience. Everything just is. 

Improv can be like that--really I have to give it a go one day soon. I wonder if I can begin with nothing except the fabric at hand. Pattern, no. Pre-cuts, no. Block style, no. No, no, no. Nothing.

Yellow Birds

And I can't know where I'm headed or how I'll get there. I must just go. Just go and it doesn't matter where I'll end up. I have to trust that at the end of the trip I'll have had a wonderful time and great memories and a quilt top. 

When we travel and get to a crossroads, Richard loves to stop the truck and ask, "Which way? Right or left?" I look at the map one more time and answer. Not that it matters, most of the time we're just headed in a general direction, north. Maybe north and west or maybe north then east, but the roads don't matter and place doesn't matter and time doesn't matter. We're just traveling and it's an adventure and we're together. 

Moon of Fallen Leaves

That's all that matters, really. We're together. But almost always, we haul a whole camper of stuff. We travel with our bed and clothes and food and chairs and a bathroom. I have my books and the Bernina and lots of sewing stuff. Richard has tools and wooden blocks and rope and charcoal and things I don't know the name of, but he knows why they are needed, just in case. Somewhere he has a stash of cash. I'd never find it, but then again I'd never find myself alone either.
In fact we've never taken off without a bag of clothes, an ice chest of food and drink, and full tank of gas. Never. Not even when we took a day trip with a specific destination and that destination had a restaurant, hotel, gas stations, etc. We are just always prepared. Always. 

The Marcottes do not travel "De manière improvisée." In Louisiana we say "on main," unprepared. I wonder whether I can quilt that way. Certainly Kaja can--like nobody else--and she is great inspiration, so maybe...
You must, must, MUST go to Sew Slowly  and drool over her quilts.