Not too liberated...

It is one of those dilemmas...if I wanted straight lines and even seams it would never happen. In this case I told myself they didn't matter so even a quilting drill sergeant couldn't find a mistake on this top!So I will have to leave it to the letters to make it liberated...the letters will be in the peacock blue fabric on a black background. While thinking about the Amish liberated quilts and rummaging through my solids I came up with this top I made back in the late 80's! Now this one is in tough shape...really bizarre seam widths. My featherweight must have been having "issues" since there are spots on this quilt that the stitching skips all over the place! Also, the black has faded...not in a nice way. So I am tossing around ideas of putting the top on the chopping block and liberating it from the bottom of the solid bin....what do you think?

Snow day....

Today I need to start working on my liberated amish...a good day for it too since we have 8 inches of very wet snow.....

I wanted to post a couple of photos of Amish quilts in my collection. I was just wondering does anyone know if patterns like the one above was done first by the Amish (thisis the pattern Tonya is working on) or if the Amish picked up patterns and interpreted them into their colorways.

(I bought the above quilt in Pennsylvania in the early 90's. The HST are only 1 inch across and the peach colored fabric has a sateen feel.)

Off to plug in the sewing machine (and reset all the clocks after our blackout last night!)

Seected Fabric for two projects

Some days I am such a Gemini...like trying to decide on the project and the fabrics. Instead of one project I now have two sitting on the ironing board.This group of fabrics is going to be used for a small quilt influenced by quilt #73 (on the website.) I'm purposely trying not to use black in this quilt but may end up with some in the end. Why no black you ask? Just for a challenge...though hand quilting black is a real challenge for me too!

This second group will definitely have some black with it but I want to find some not too solid denimy looking black. I also want to add some more blue denim-y looking cotton. It will be influenced by a small log cabin (not sure if the number is 92 or 42 on the web...Amazon better hurry with that book!)

So the first choice was influence by the design/pattern and the second one with the colors. Since I have all the fabrics for the first one (and I know what words I want in it!) I am starting with that. I'm hoping since I am working small that I have a chance to finish it!

I picked one!

This took much longer than I ever anticipated!

I loved #106, Jacobs Ladder, for the fun ribbon border (could I fit words into that ribbon?) but then I saw #100, Crazy Star, with all those tiny pieces (could I finish it before June - who am I kidding!)

So on the the Log Cabins like 92 with its gorgeous colors (sorry Tonya - I like brown) but then #42 - how gorgeous is that! Oh no...#104 with its wild stripes (and I have some striped fabric that could make great cheater piece but then how would I get the words in there?)

Go simple, go simple I keep telling myself - you have plenty of time to over-think this later...ah, so then I saw #73, Original Pattern. Simple enough that I can delude myself into thinking I can finish it by the deadline and plenty of opportunity to over-complicate it all on my own. So is this a decision...I think so!

Design-time....

Time to start pulling the Amish books off the shelf again...may be a bit of dust to blow off too! Then again if I just order the new Amish book then there is no dusting to do and I can get right to piecing! Brilliant!My name is Siobhan and I currently live in Augusta, Georgia. I've quilted for over 20 years and during that time have made several Amish style quilts and even a couple "liberated" though no "Amish liberated." (does that phrase make anyone else just grin and shake their head?...sounds like some underground movement that entices teenage Amish to wear plaid and play video-games...)

I did dream about this project last night...I do some of my best quilting in my dreams...but I haven't selected the design yet. My goal for this week is to finalize my design and to dig out my solid fabrics again (duh, I just packed them away at Christmas when I finished up my waverunner....)