That quilt was started in December 2016 and finished in January 2017. But I started AND finished this one in January 2017.
This quilt is for my brother who has a cattle ranch (although he currently isn't running it as a working cattle ranch). He also uses his 2000+ acres as recreation property. Last year I bought this cattle drive fabric on a whim -- some fat quarters and some yardage of the cream and brown prints to add to it. Figured I'd eventually turn it into a quilt for my brother when I figured out what pattern to use.
I was browsing some copies of Block magazine and ran across this Illusion quilt by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company. It was perfect. It would showcase the fabrics. It had a masculine feel to it. It would be quick and easy to make up. After all, I want this quilt to get used! And I think it definitely was the right choice.
I quilted it with HQ Pro-Stitcher on my HQ Avante using a simple spiral digital motif. I found lots of cute western motifs, but I felt they competed with the fabrics. The spiral all-over design kind of looks like lassos (to me, anyway). It adds texture and movement to the quilt, without distracting from the ranch fabric motifs.
I'll be giving the quilt to my brother later tonight. My mom gets my siblings, spouses, and me (and her) season tickets to the local community theater each year for Christmas. It means we get together about every six weeks, have dinner with my parents, and then go to the theater which is only a mile away. And tonight is the first show of the season.
I hope he likes it. I'm pretty sure he will. He is very generous to me and has even let me build a tiny house/cabin on his ranch property. And I've even hosted a quilting retreat for friends at the ranch. So, he deserves a quilt.
