New top done

A new red, white and blue top finished for the Quilt Bank of the Bayberry Quilt Guild which is trying to get some 50 quilts for a veteran's charity. They finish the tops - which is wonderful for me because I don't enjoy the quilting part and usually get in a rush and do a sloppy job.  This design was inspired by Karen Griska's "Cabin Quilt" which she posted on her Selvage Blog a couple of weeks ago.   (see side bar) The sewing, even the half-square triangles, goes quicky if you have a good stash in the colors you plan to use.  I had plenty of reds, whites and blues. 

I'm not sure if Karen cut all her strips the same width, she probably did because she's a very precise quilter. But I did not attempt to keep them all the same width. I love an ad lib method of quilting. Even with a simple design that might be called traditional, it feels like being an artist and making decisions constantly.

This method of working is my preferred one even though I do only a few quilts I actually call art quilts.  But my friend, Dottie Moore, of Rockville, South Carolina works much that way and all her quilts are art quilts.  I was browsing magazines yesterday and came upon the the current issue of Machine Quilting Magazine with Dottie's name on the cover. Inside is a wonderful article  showing several of her signature quilts with trees and an article by Dottie talking about her entirely intuitive way of working.  I haven't seen her for six or seven years but I see her work published regularly and never get tired of her iterations of landscapes.