I fretted over fabrics. The original quilt is only 56 x 70 so I enlarged my blocks to 6", but she loved the color of the original so I went in search of something similar. I stayed with a solid black and gray, but chose textured fabrics for the lagoon and white:
This is such a simple quilt, yet the design is striking. Simple HST's...lots of them, 176 to be exact, but I love their versatility. Simple masking tape marked the rows:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQtXDA_O5BZyn35bV2Ezhe9VAUuMLiD_sBxhdIBlKE-2zbnZe68pTQ5uRTLB_sNNNab74k5zP2f70ETdz9H0EFc_TbbaITXFZ3zFrbCzTn9eBl7bHkwfMfELok43lYHzCIuTNrVZ7xOY/s400/20180316_173204.jpg)
I marked off each one on a copy from the book in order to keep from turning anything around and it worked like a charm:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMvr03tZSzdwb5XdNH3I450tvlt3laK7EMtFadFZv3E5WT0lyJBn48JepmBfKss56o4YWcf2WPFwJBdvazSiJKi7oaIN7M48Ju15Mhfi5oOJDwLbXpuDwMdLP03V-bAjkZPtaoNw8Qr6c/s400/20180316_143435.jpg)
I made them over the course of a week and I took the time to sliver trim each one:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTh5YhI4wDDNOBpnS4e0rO_1LoXllvgbIcfb8QM74_lsGGitiNOFPLAwQtk4XwRtZvpqQpNBxbVF2rmq1XnyrN_XT0SNSz0IhG-tY6lCP9UCTQH_LuHqawZCGZe6mJbOu4JOLf_r4hczo/s400/20180316_112520.jpg)
I was stumped as to what to use for a backing, but we settled on this wide gray
and I bound it in the lagoon.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90oq6wGmC7ODuJ1ASc99JLmJ6bP6fmuo6mdaBfjOlLPa2BfCPXKh69wro_cHEA-UQW1J4DjLlAzZUpSjVqPi4Tk_cQ4Svfnw-Kw4P9TLn2Qm0zkMf6XTODK2I9_NRBdIoHMx58Uofc3Y/s400/20180712_171705.jpg)
A Sarah Plain and Tall marathon was on TV as I worked on the binding. The scene I captured is when Jacob falls to the ground as it finally begins to rain, bringing an end to a prolonged drought. That's exactly what it'll be like when we finally get a good rain here:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxkcW7tG3drnREAcwnD5nV8CbQBDJDBXTNEyqCjW4-weU7VnGI3fYAJtbOG5IumEOul1ZPl58ss_Eo1H475aiFzxiATqEci5yIzcCyni__j26P4hh-e0yaaOvjg0GK1ON3X5mnQ_h080A/s400/20180721_161610.jpg)
After a run through the washer, the quilt spent some time on the line, soaking up as much of the New Mexico sunshine as it could hold for our girl:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoVVMbiHKY-vhn41wpoqsoY0ZnYPHvfRe6cPRy2lQ_1lKkRTs1VHr_IwR_gb5kqONUJfY-3W_C5NXGuWOYd2wj_yWiorKV8n2BqNd7Sa7xw7OMeeqUHgyJFC9-paHE-tZIYtixedxgLwg/s400/20180725_164951.jpg)
See how dry we are. Not even a weed. I especially love the quilting pattern that Jackie chose:
It gives the quilt great movement and an additional southwestern design element to the graphic piecing:
When it came time to photograph it, I was stumped. My usual chicken yard fence location wasn't quite tall enough:
Although the wind was blowing quite nicely and it held up that big ol' quilt without nary a clip. Honestly, I just climbed up the ladder, laid it close to the fence, and the wind just sucked it up against the fence. It finishes at 90 x 110 so it's a pretty good size. There wasn't a spot on the hay stack that worked either, but the side of the barn turned out to be perfect:
Guess it's soaking up some of the New Mexico wind to send to our girl too:
Heck, I think it was trying to get to her without being sent in a box. Air mail...or wind mail:
I love everything about this quilt from the first stitch to the last,
but the thing I love the most about it is that it was made for this pretty incredible kid:
Happy Birthday, Sprout! Love, Mama and Daddy