Create Your own Improv Quilts

Rayna Gillman works in mixed media on fibre, using a variety of surface design, collage, and printmaking techniques to integrate text and images into her work. She made her first scrap quilt in 1974, when she fell in love with an antique quilt she could not afford. Noted for her instinctive sense of colour and her improvisational approach to design, she encourages students to work spontaneously and to experiment. Rayna was a featured artist on the TV show Simply Quilts and has written for Quilting Arts Magazine. In addition, her work has been widely published. She was a juror for the national Art Quilts Lowell show and teaches internationally. Her fabric and quilts have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the country and are in private collections in the United States, France, and Belgium. You can see her quilts on her website at www.studio78.net and www.galleryfxv.com.

Subtitled 'Modern Quilting With No Rules and No Rulers' this book shows you how to improvise to make modern quilts. It includes modern design, getting started, improvising in different ways, inspiration and a question and answer section. It's all about cutting freehand, letting go of perfection, not following patterns but creating and experimenting. Rayna's favourite two words are the maxim of many a designer 'What if?' In this book she looks at playing with shape. You'll come to understand the way a designer's mind works. It's not quite 1,2,3, it's more 1a or 1b, what if, oh yes 1c is better. It's about looking at possibilities and knowing which one makes the best quilt, or if you have enough ideas for a series. Includes Improv Paper Piecing without patterns, wonky blocks and even using leftovers. There is an inspirational gallery too. Recommended.