Jacob's quilt

I have to tell you a story first. On Tuesday I was taking a transportation bus.  It's a bus for handicapped folks and so it has a different route each day.  On Tuesday the bus driver, obviously not familiar with the neighborhood, was driving the long way around.  I suspected where he was headed, because buses frequently pick up a certain lady that lives near me.  And sure enough, after a bit of a meander, the bus driver stopped in the street in some confusion.  "Are you lost?" I asked. 
"I'm supposed to go to X Street," he said.
Seeing that he was now two blocks away, I told him, "Well you are doing so good!  It's right over there, just make a left at that stop sign, go one block and turn left again."
The man was so happy that I had told him that he was "doing good."  I know that it made his day.  When we picked up the person he was looking for he told her, "We have the most wonderful lady here on the bus with us today!"  As they say, some positive reinforcement goes a long way.
And here's the quilt top, all assembled.  I get such a feeling of satisfaction when I get something assembled.  Especially when I started this with no really clear idea of what it was going to be.  I was trying for the free-pieced lettering from Tonya Ricucci's book Word Play Quilts, the liberated style from Gwen Marston's book Liberated Quiltmaking II, and at the same time for a simple color scheme and a bit dignified feeling of a quilt for a young man.  Now on to finding a backing and doing the pin basting--

Liberated Log cabin

When I have left over scraps I start sewing them together.  Eventually, I have a pile of blocks either pieced as string blocks, crazy blocks or liberated log cabins. If I have a lot of juvenile prints, I make a baby quilt. I don't use any foundation for these blocks, I just piece the scraps together. There's less decisions to be made that way. I wait until I have about 20 or more blocks made.  Then I square  them up and piece them into quilts.  Right now, I happen to have finished sewing 20 blocks in a liberated log cabin style.  I squared them up into size 9 1/2 inches (that is including the seams.) Then I cut some 2 1/2 inch strips of a plain solid fabric to use for borders.  Sewn together, 4 by 5 blocks will give a quilt measuring approximately 46 by 57 inches.  When I find quilt batts that are about 48 by 60 inches and are on sale, I purchase a couple to have on hand for when I can use them to make a lap or baby quilt.  I sometimes donate these quilts to charity, too. 

Baby quilt

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear blogging friends. This happens to be my 200th blog entry! I got up early and baked some brownie cookies for the big dinner. I have a lot to be thankful for today. First of all, I woke up today. And I have a wonderful family, friends and neighbors. Lots of things to be thankful for, our free country among them. My darling oldest daughter is making the dinner today. I'll go over and pitch in. And besides that, I have completed this quilt.

The great emancipator

Gwen Marston has set quilters free. I recommend her book "Liberated Quiltmaking." It allows ordinary quilters (not just those art quilter types) to go for it! Sew, sew, sew. Make crooked seams, use queer color combinations, everything doesn't have to match. If someone points out a wonky quilt block to you, just say "Thanks for noticing. I meant it to come out that way."
I'm going to refer to her book for ideas for my next couple of quilts.