A Rompin' Stompin' Cowboy Quilt

Our son loved cowboys when he was young, and after spotting these vintage-style fabrics at the quilt shop, he asked if I'd make him something. How could I refuse? The prints were adorable -- bucking broncos, covered wagons, lassos, and spurs. Yeehaw! 

Finding a pattern wasn’t as easy. No ordinary Nine-patch or Log Cabin would do. Instead, I wanted something unique with a bit of western flair. After months of searching, I finally found it -- Cowboy Boots. Yippee I oh ki-ay!   

I love how the boot blocks highlight the prints. Additional elements like striped sashing and fussy-cut cornerstones add even more interest.

The "barbed wire" border was actually an afterthought, made to use up precious scraps.

Vacationing "Out West" a year later, I found this Native American style blanket print (Alexander Henry). It made a perfect backing!

More time passed at the machine quilters. 

In fact, from start to finish, it took three years to complete the quilt. Guess what our son said when I finally presented it to him. “Mom, I don’t really like cowboys anymore!” 

 

"Too bad, buckaroo. You're sleeping with it till you go to college!" 

Wandaful Quilts!

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Have you ever visited my friend Wanda at Exuberant Color? If you have, you’ve been treated to daily posts of color-drenched inspiration, like the photo above (Wanda's little quilt, photographed in my lilies). If you haven’t, today’s the day to visit and enter her anniversary giveaway. She’s offering six fabulous prizes and you get to choose your favorite!

Wanda has been quilting for 50 years! In that time, she’s owned her own quilt shop and managed others. She’s sold everything from sewing machines to her original fiber art. She’s transformed her cozy home into a studio with sewing spaces and fabric collections even professional quilters would envy. After thirty years of teaching beginners and advanced quilters, she can explain how to do almost anything related to quiltmaking.

Wanda has a penchant for batiks and machine embroidery, gardening, photography, and computers. She absolutely loves color and is “driven to create with it.” Fortunately for us, she’s driven to share all this through her blog, Exuberant Color. Thank you, Wanda, for your generous spirit and daily doses of inspiration!

What Do You Get?

This sounds like one of those jokes where you cross two things, say a cat and a parrot, and end up with something new. What do you get when you cross animal print fabrics with Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking techniques? You get a quilt like this:

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When my boys were little and had to accompany me to the quilt shop, I’d sometimes placate them by letting them pick out a fat quarter of fabric they liked. My nine year old son spotted a whole bundle of animal prints and begged me to make a quilt with them. How could I refuse, even though they were just about they last thing I ever envisioned myself using?

The beauty of making a “liberated” quilt is that you don’t have to start with a plan. I had no idea where the design would take me. I just began cutting out animals and framing them with a dark fabric, aptly named “Kitambaa,” the Swahili word for “cloth." These vignettes became the quilt’s focal points.


Next, I added familiar quilt elements like flying geese, log cabin, shoo fly, stars, four patch, nine patch and hour glass blocks, all made with Gwen’s characteristic wonkiness.


The quilt evolved organically. When units were too long, I cut them down. When they were too short, I added to them. And while the layout may look random, units were arranged and rearranged, puzzle-like until they fit.


This quilt was successful on many levels. It used up just about every square inch of jungle fabric we bought. It taught an up-tight quilter how to loosen up and enjoy the process of working intuitively. And it pleased a young boy so much that he's slept under the quilt for years, even taking it off to college with him!


And if you're wondering what you get when you cross a cat and a parrot, it's a carrot!

Get Liberated

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In the 27 years since taking up my needle, one woman's influence has been a constant in my work. Gwen Marston impressed me early on with her knowledge of quilt history, her reverence for traditional quilts, her methods for designing custom applique, piecing and quilting patterns and her ability to throw out the rules and encourage us to create original quilts of our own.


As Gwen’s designs and freeform construction techniques become more mainstream, it is easy to forget the tremendous impact her work has had on quilt making the world over. Her “liberated” methods for sewing blocks and composing quilts revolutionized the way many of us quilters work. Read more about Gwen Marston HERE and HERE.


This “Black and Bright” quilt was made during one of several Beaver Island Quilt Retreats I attended over the years. It exemplifies Gwen’s “liberated” quilt construction techniques: bold color, irregularly cut fabric, intuitive block construction, miniature “compositions” in the sashing, all tied together with a unique quilting design. This quilt couldn’t be more different from my usual style. But it taught me a lot and has become one of my favorites!

Gwen’s book, Liberated Quiltmaking, which outlines her novel construction techniques, is currently out of print. Tonya Ricucci, from Lazy Gal Quilting, has approached the publisher about reissuing this pivotal book. If you or someone you know would like a copy of Gwen’s book, please visit Tonya HERE, read her post, and leave her a comment or e-mail. The deadline for expressing your interest is the end of June.

Memorial Day

Shiloh Battlefield, Tennessee

1995

To all our men and women in uniform,

Thank you for your service and sacrifice!

ABC's of Me

I don’t usually do these meme things, but found this one intriguing. It's a cute way to learn a little something about someone. I love all things alphabetical: ABC books, cross stitch samplers, dictionaries, calligraphy and fonts, letterpress printing, library card catalogs, monograms, old typewriter keys, Scrabble... My husband doesn't share my predilection, and has mentioned, on more than one occasion, that he doesn't want to see alphabets all over our house. I try to be subtle. Here are some of my favorites.

Accent: Midwestern with a hint of Chicago nasality.

Breakfast or no breakfast: I eat the same thing every morning ~ yogurt with oats stirred in. I’m not particularly health conscious, just lazy.
Chore I don’t care for: DUSTING!
Dog or Cat: I grew up with both but have neither as an adult.
Essential Electronics: My computer!
Favorite Cologne: Clinique “Happy” ~ It smells clean and citrusy.
Gold or Silver: Gold. I'm allergic to other metals.


Handbag I carry most often: A small brown leather “Fossil” ~ a glorified wallet, really. I stick with one bag till it wears out.
Insomnia: All too frequently!
Job Title: Stay at Home Mom, in its most literal sense.
Kids: Two wonderful sons, ages 20 and 17.
Living Arrangements: My family lives in a far western suburb of Chicago ~ an old river town but with new amenities.
Most Admirable Trait: Endurance
Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Tattling on my brother (he was the naughty one).


Overnight hospital stays: Two for childbirth and two for MS testing and treatment, including the entire month of December, 2007!
Phobias: Creepy crawlies of any kind. The more legs they have, the more frightened I am.
Quote: “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.” Shakespeare’s Richard II. It stuck with me when I read the play in high school and I now see how very true it is.
Reason to smile: My children.
Siblings: I grew up with three brothers. The oldest died in 1994 and I miss him very much. Another is estranged from the family and I miss him very much. The youngest lives in Ohio and I miss him very much.


Time I wake up: 5:30 A.M., but not by choice. I need help getting up and that’s when my husband leaves for work.
Unusual Talent or Skill: Nitpicking.
Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Black Eyed Peas.
Worst Habit: Procrastination.
X-rays: Do MRIs of my brain count?
Yummy Stuff: CHOCOLATE!
Zoo Animal I Like Most: Elephants ~ They’re slow and plodding, like me but also intelligent, sensitive, and excellent mothers.

Little Faithy

I've won a blog giveaway! Lucy at Quilting with the Past made a twin to her own doll, Little Faithy, and sent her to me all the way from the Netherlands. Apparently, the pattern for the doll included a poem describing Faithy's origins, so I wrote a poem to thank Lucy for her generous gift.

The Face of Faithy

As Lucy stitched this prairie doll for me,

From bits of cloth stained brown, as if by age,

Her thimbled finger, needle, and fine thread

Shaped more than playthings from an olden day.

A flowered frock of unassuming form,

An apron fashioned out of muslin plain,

The bonnet sewn from madder calico,

Did more than clothe a humble faceless frame.

For with each stitch her expert fingers took,

A bond between two faceless women grew.

A friendship formed from stuffing, cloth and thread,

A seaming of two lives through friendship new.

So, when I look upon this prairie doll,

Imbued with love and generosity,

Instead of visage blank and features plain,

It’s Lucy’s face that gazes back at me!

© Diane Burdin, 2008

Thank you again, Lucy, for drawing my name in your blog raffle. I love Little Faithy and think she'll be happy in my home.