helou

Exactly what I do...

QltrSue

Sometimes there is a plan, othertimes there is trial/testing/experimenting just for fun. I love little nine-patches, so at one time, they were my scrappy handpiecing take along project with no end result in mind. But as I made them, ideas and projects presented themselves as possibilities for finishing. And the small blocks turned into a quilt that I am very happy with. When people would ask me what I was going to do with them, I would say, "I don't know yet." Some shook their heads in disapproval and others understood. I just liked making the blocks and using bits of time. Now I am doing EPP for the same reasons, just because I like hexis and jewel shapes. I'm sure ideas will come along when the time is right. My mom would never understand this lack of plan; growing up, we didn't have the "luxury" of "wasting" either time or supplies (even scraps!). But these days I see the value in testing, experimenting, trying different things. Sometimes my experiments turn into finished projects, sometimes not, but there is always learning. (Oftentimes, what NOT to do!! lol)

ManiacQuilter2

OH thank goodness, I am NOT the ONLY ONE !!! THANKS for letting me know Terri D I am NOT ALONE anymore !!! I thought I was the ONLY Maniac on this block !!!

When I purchase or given a fabric for a charity quilt, I must have a pattern before I start and all the coordinating fabric that I will need to complete the quilt top.

Geri B

Depends on my mood or objective.....maybe I see something in a book/mag that I want to try....make one, decide no, then it gets buried.....or half way thru something, I see something else...a new UFO is born......or just a stack of leaders and Enders.........now I am just trying to put some of those L&Es into some sort of pattern....and am cutting hexies/paper with new GO die.....nothing definitive, just a bunch of ???????.......but, when I started this journey I was very focused...now, many yrs later I am wandering.......but still enjoy the journey...

RavenLunaStitch

I usually have a sketchy plan for the blocks, drawn out on graph paper. I'm a scrappy quilter so I take stock of my colors to see how many I can incorporate into an EASY design and just go block by block, then row by row. My plans usually have to be modified as I go -- as careful as I am, my accuracy never seems to be quite as precise as necessary to make anything complicated. If I'm totally honest about it, I'm just happy if I can get the thing properly squared up before binding. Yes, really.

Also, is it just me or do quilts made this way always take WAY more fabric than you expect, but hardly make a dent in the scrap pile at the end? I think my sewing space is kinda "magical" this way. I'm amazed every time at this phenomenon.

I'm ok with this because I just like piecing and sometimes the changes make the finished quilt better than the plan I had to begin with. Not always, though!

Skittl1321

I often just make things. But I have a series of 12 x 12 quilts that I hang, so there is always a use.

But for me, without a plan means I just start sewing and see what I end up with. Improv piecing. By making hexies, or dresdens, or such - it at least sounds like you have a plan for the block The plan is to make a trial of that block.

Our quilt guild collects orphan blocks at the end of the year and has a challenge for people to take at least 10 of them and put them together into a charity quilt. As much as the blocks look totally random they always end up coming together nicely.

Sewnoma

I don't usually do test blocks, but I often make more blocks than I need so I can pick the best of the bunch and toss out the "turkeys". I don't actually toss them out, they just end up as part of a crazy quilt down the road.

I like impromptu sewing - I'll start stitching things together without any sort of a plan at all, just a vague idea that it'll end up in a crazy quilt. It's a marvelous way for me to de-stress. And I love crazy quilts - I like how they look but most of all I enjoy the in-the-moment creativity of putting them together.

Stitchit123

Well if you have enough of the 'don't want to make any more of these' blocks you can turn them into a Sampler Quilt

sparkys_mom

My eyes glaze over and I move on to something else.

nanna-up-north

I may have 1 or 2 blocks sitting around but, I'm a little OCD and try to finish the projects I start. But I almost never use a pattern and make a quilt exactly like it says in a pattern or book. I have to put 'me' into it and that means changing things to my liking. The one quilt I made using a bunch of random blocks was the dresden plate. I taught a bunch of classes and when I teach a class I make a sample along with my students. So I had about half the blocks I needed for this quilt. So, I just made more and put the quilt together. I have a bunch of table runners from a beginning quilting class, too. One for christmas, one for easter, one for 4th of July, etc..... you get the idea.