It's no secret that we love Denyse Schmidt quilts around here. Her beautiful goods are a little expensive for us, though, so we're always keeping our feelers out for sample sales or even classes for learning to make improvisational quilts yourself. Which is just what lots of people around the web have done; made their own version using Schmidt's perfectly imperfect Hop, Skip, Jump pattern:

Says one quilter from Craftster: "I can't imagine following a pattern for something that should look random, so I cut a bunch of strips with my rotary cutter, ruler-free, and just went to town laying them out." We love the outcome and the process of such improvisational work!

(Images: 1. Pink Chalk Studio, 2. Craftster, 3. Sock Crazy, 4.That Girl... That Quilt)