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Another quilt top is finished. I love piecing the quilts more than sandwiching them up and "quilting." As you can see I tend to prefer free style quilts using bits of various fabrics rather than the perfection you'd see in The Great American Quilt. (My sister's quilts fell more to the perfectionist side of the spectrum.) I love combining colours and working from what I've got in my fabric stash and pile of discarded clothing. I often leave a quilt in progress laid out on the kitchen floor for several days as I look at and think about where I want the colours to go.

My approach to quilting has been inspired by many great contemporary quilters who use big bold designs in their quilts. At Open Source Bridge I was lucky enough to stumble across a copy of Quilts of Gee's Bend at Powell's. The stories of the quilters have, literally, made me cry. When I was looking up some references for the book tonight I saw there was a law suit to go along with the stories, although the source material is now 404-page not found. Like every good story, I'm sure there's a lot more to it. Some of the possibilities are available in an NPR interview that you can listen to online. The 15-minute radio interview is fascinating as the curators of the quilt exhibit speak for the women of Gee's Bend. (Insert concepts like "honour" vs. "exploitation" here.) I'm very glad the exhibit happened and that I have the book. I hope that my purchase of the book didn't feed an exploitation of the quilters of Gee's Bend.