Tag Archives | Floral Improv

The ladies of the Columbia River Gorge Quilters, in Portland, OR, really excelled at creating Floral Improv pieces. These are just a few of the results.

Tomme Fent used a vibrant palette that really made her flowers POP!

Ginger Hartnett’s poppies were really enhanced by her contour stitching. Don’t they look 3D?

Ronda Griffin’s piece has a lively, happy vibe. Nice!

Beth Harkenrider’s poppies were so dark that we decided to highlight them with white stitching, rather than black. I think it worked well and her piece has a wonderful sense of mystery.

Daera Dobbs’ flowers have a lot of energy!

She liked the process so much that she made a second piece later. I take that as a compliment!

I had a fantastic time with these ladies!

Can you believe we accomplished all of this via Zoom? It worked great. Maybe your guild would like to give it a try. See more info.

Ellen Lindner

Floral Improv is such a fun class. The students learn a lot AND accomplish a lot in a relaxed atmosphere. The gals in Arizona had just such an experience, and made some fantastic quilts!

(I only got photos of a few.) Victoria’s dark background really created a lot of contrast and drama!

Cindy reversed the values on her poppies to great effect. Her quilt is so happy!

Audrey made good progress and was able to add black stitching to her poppies. Can you see (just barely) how it adds a lot of definition?

Kathy used an unusual combination of colors that made her quilt very lively. (There’s that poppy stitching again.) See the floating circles? They’ll become flowers once Kathy stitches on delicate stems for them.

During class Lynda completely finished stitching her quilt and even FRAMED it!!! She was so pleased.

Oh, I can see this gal’s face, but I can’t recall her name. (Please tell me if it’s you.) This piece is very successful thanks to the high contrast, black stitching on the poppies, and ORIGINAL leaves. I love the shape she came up with.

Finally, Vicki’s smile echoed the joy that everyone felt with their fun quilts. Isn’t hers great?

I sure had fun with this group and I think the feeling was mutual. Maybe your guild would live to give Floral Improv a try, as well.

Ellen Lindner

Most of my classes are geared toward somewhat traditional quilters who want to try art quilting, but aren’t quite sure where to start. Floral Improv is a perfect example of this. In it students learn how to make two types of stylized flowers without any patterns. Then, they learn about composition, and construct everything with raw edges and sketch-style stitching. Definitely new territory for most participants.

But, the group in Hollywood, FL handled it like troopers. First came the flowers.

Then, composing the flowers into a pleasing arrangement. No leaves and stems to start with.

Sorry, but I didn’t record who made this. If anyone knows, please tell me.

Finally, the stems and leaves are added.

Denise’s strong contrasts create a lot of drama.

Nora tried a few additional things on her own, which I heartily endorse.

Ellen successfully used some small strips (as stems) that she had leftover from a previous project.

Robbin chose very subtle stems and leaves, allowing the flowers to POP.

Betty had hers almost ready for stitching. (And, yes, we had a younger sewer visit our class.)

Annette added a lot of whimsy with polka dots and plaids. They really show up well against her dark background.

I did a shortened class for this group, so they didn’t get to do a lot of stitching. Can you believe they achieved all of this in only 4 1/2 hours? It was a very successful day!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’d love to come teach this class for your group.