Liberated and Lovin It

I've always thought of myself as a "liberated" quilter, but now I feel liberated with a purpose. Since my last blog entry, I have joined a Yahoo quilting group "Liberated Quilters". This little group offers wonderful quilting conversation and interesting challenges that keeps everyone on their creative toes. The group introduced me to the book Liberated Quiltmaking by Gwen Marston. I have so enjoyed reading her ideas and had to try out Free Pieced Stars---oh what fun. I highly recommend her book and I look forward to reading the second Liberated Quiltmaking that has just hit the book stores.

Saturday was a quiet day at the house, so I quilted from 10:00am to about 6:00pm. I made this little liberated star quilt top.

The top is 9 x 9 inches square (little to big for AAQI). I used some of Gwen's techniques and I don't think I will make a traditional star again--I enjoyed making the new free pieced stars. On a piece of scrap paper I created the placement and idea for the quilt top. Using very thin thread and needle put things together. I will say even thought I measures at almost every stitch, I still had many seams to rip and resew.
The thread size I used was #50 by DMC and the needles 60/8 by Schmetz. I did have to adjust the bobbin tension for this weight thread. Super Fine silk pins were a great help and pinning from the fabric to the edge is a great way to keep small fabric pieces together without puckers. I'm letting the quilt top rest for a few days, before I start quilting. I'm thinking about using metallic thread and machine quilting---I think I have a few to many seams to hand quilt. I'm also trying to decide if I want a border??? Have a great Monday and Happy Quilting!