... 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.

Arrived back home in Georgia yesterday, having spent several days out in Water Valley, Mississippi, at daughter Coulter's YaloRUN Studio, where I taught the first half of a workshop on the Rail Fence quilt pattern -- to beginners. The class sold out at 7 participants -- the number of sewing machines at YaloRUN -- and a good time was had by all! I've never had such a completely focused, hard-working group as this one. For real! And all the different design and color choices were terrific! Everybody finished cutting strips and sewing long strips together. A few even got started assembling blocks. I was particularly impressed with all the creative designs and color choices. We'll all meet back in two weeks, theoretically with finished tops, for the second half of the workshop when we'll make quilt sandwiches and begin to hand quilt.

Here are a few photos from the workshop: