Western Skies Quilt

I don't know how I missed sharing this quilt with y'all! I finished it last year and I guess I was SO excited that I just put it on the bed and completely forgot to post about  it here. I remember telling myself I needed to paint our bedroom before I shared it and then that too was forgotten. I must have taken leave of my senses because its probably my favorite quilt.

 I bought yards and yards of this fabric when I first saw it about 5 years ago.

                                         

I was a new quilter and I didn't have a plan. I just started playing with ideas and thought I might be able to fussy cut some of the scenes and make them the focal point. The minute I saw this fabric, a particular song started playing in my head. I adore Chris Ledoux and he has a song called "Western Skies". You can listen to it here:

There probably isn't a day that goes by that it doesn't go through my mind, and yes, I may even sing it a bit as I go about my day. Its my theme song. :)

When I brought this fabric home and spread it out on the bed, my eyes drifted to the painting above our bed:

 We have a friend,  Wayne Baize, who is a western artist and he painted this of DH about 15 years ago. My husband does NOT like to be in limelight. He doesn't want articles written about him, or to be the subject of a magazine shoot, or to be included in a calendar. He just likes to go about his business quietly without fanfare.

Once we went to a Cowboy Poetry Gathering and a bit and spur show. When we walked into the museum, there was a huge, life sized painting of DH on one wall. Wayne said it was a commissioned piece. DH avoided it completely and spent the remainder of our visit outside. :)

 That's Timber Mountain in the background which is where we lived in Texas and his favorite horse ever, Poncho, and Doc.

 Look how much it resembles the fabric in this quilt.

                             

I didn't use a pattern as I had to work around the fussy cut squares to build my block. And at the time, I didn't understand the concept of pieced borders and using fudge strips to make them fit so one corner square is cut off. I should have just left it out, but I can live with it.

                              

I sent it off to Shelly of Prairie Moon Quilts to be custom quilted and she did an amazing job!
I love the barbed wire in the sashing and the rope she quilted in the border as well the stitching in each border square:

                              

She outlined each star block adding cool stitching around the star:

                              

O.K. - I love everything about it! Thank you so much, Shelly! I am thrilled to pieces with how you've brought it all to life! You are a master at your craft!

                                 

At 108 x 108, its another huge quilt. I need an intervention, but it spends the summer on our bed and makes me smile every time I walk in our bedroom.