My Inspiration...or is obsession???

My quilt to study is this one, #59 Crazy Star. I seem to spend every evening staring at it and trying to figure out, "Now HOW the @#$* did they do this???" I am no stranger to string quilts, or liberated quilts, but this one just keeps amazing me. I had to buy the book because once I saw this quilt on the web, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Is it strip pieced? Is it a log cabin (sort of)?? Are those little wedges of strings bigger pieces that were pieced and then cut up into several blocks? Sewn by hand (can you strip piece by hand?!) or machine (treadle?!) Each of those little scrappy squares are like miniature compositions. Yikes. This is absolutely the antithesis of every Amish quilt I've ever seen... oh I just love it.
I have no idea what I will make inspired by this quilt, or how to liberate it further (this seems pretty darn liberated already...would love to know more about the maker, and what her neighbors or fellow quilters in the community thought of her) ... but I'm darn sure gonna try something! Hopefully this weekend!

Hello!

My oh my...you have all been busy! This is so inspiring!

I will have something to post later on in the week -- but for now I will just introduce myself. My name is Diane, and I live in NYC. I have been quilting for longer than I can remember at this point. I also teach quilting at The City Quilter in Chelsea. One of my first loves in quilting was string quilting - in fact, I have a string quilting class coming up this weekend - but I've also played around with Liberated Quilts. Recently, since I've been going to quilting retreats in Shipshewana, IN, I've also fallen in love with Amish quilts -- so this challenge is a combination of a lot of my favorite things.

My Amish Abstractions book arrived yesterday, and I am devouring those luscious photos.

I've been a big fan of Tanya's work and her blog for a while now, so it's a pleasure to stop lurking and play with all of you on this fun project!

More later in the week, I promise... I am possibly the most technically-challenged quilter on the internet today, so I have to coerce a friend into taking some digital pix for me, but maybe this will inspire me to get a digital camera and get myself into the 21st century!

Diane/NYC
(no snow yet, darn it)