"Every Which Way ...

... But Loose" is what I'm calling this top I just finished piecing --

Made from re-purposed plaid shirts I bought at Goodwill, this top is composed of 4-inch squares, 6-inch squares, 8-inch squares, 10-inch squares, and 12-inch squares. Each square is fine-line pieced using the method devised by Kathleen Loomis, an art quilter whose work I very much admire.  Here are her instructions for fine-line piecing, which I adapted a little bit. 

My plans are to machine-quilt this top, in moderately dense straight horizontal lines -- but I might decide to add a border first.  What do you think?  Should I add a border?  If so, what color? How wide? 

If the weather allows, I'll leave tomorrow to drive out to daughter Coulter's YaloRUN Textile Studio in Water Valley, Mississippi, to teach the second half of a beginner Rail Fence quilt workshop. I look forward to seeing what the seven students have produced. A few of them have posted some fine sneak peeks on Facebook. I can't wait to see all of them!  Check back in a few days for photos and a report.  

IN PROGRESS ...

I usually try to keep at least one machine-focused project going at the same time that I have at least one hand-work project going. That way, when I get tired with one -- or physically challenged -- I can switch to the other.  Here's my current machine work -- 

I don't know yet exactly what I'm going to do with it -- how big it'll be or how  I'm going to join all the squares -- but I do know that I want to keep the squares, and in their various sizes -- so we'll see ... 

I really am enjoying the fine-line piecing. It's tedious and slow, but fun. The plaids are left over from the plaid shirts I used to make the cityscape quilt titled "Virgo."

Here's the handwork I'm currently working on -- a twin-sized quilt titled "Nautica" --

I do love to execute some free-flowing lines of big-stitch quilting.  It's sorta my Zen thing.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to drive out to my daughter Coulter's studio in Water Valley, Mississippi -- YaloRun Textiles -- to teach a workshop on Rail Fence Quilts.  I look forward to working with Coulter and to meeting new students. 

A little Rail Fence piece I made the last time I visited YaloRUN.