Saddle Up Quilt is On It's Way To Nebraska

I started this quilt a few weeks ago. The pattern is called Whimsical and can be found here. And here's the link to a previous post where I talked a little about the construction of the blocks:

Saddle Up

I took this quilt in to Jackie on a Thursday evening and she called me the following Thursday morning to let me know that it was ready. She's a wonder! The last quilt I finished was the beginning of August and I am binding another right now. I asked her to just move this one up in my line of quilts to be quilted, but 3 or 4 weeks would be fine so I was surprised to hear from her so soon.

It was Saturday before I got into town to pick it up and I spent every spare minute stitching on the binding for 2 days, boxed it up and sent it on it's way with wishes and prayers that it will bring some warmth and comfort to DH's cousin as he tackles his cancer treatments. It's the only way I could think of to send love and hugs across the miles.

He and his wife both rodeoed and they raised their 3 boys on the family ranch so I hope this quilt will be a good fit. I enjoyed revisiting all the fabrics I had collected through the years and choosing the ones I wanted for this quilt:

I chose a brown Minky backing for added warmth and at 55 x 70,  I think it'll be small enough to take along to treatments and large enough to fend off the cold that often prevails in hospitals.

Jackie quilted the perfect barbed wire meander across it:

When I began this quilt a few weeks ago, I didn't know I was making it for DH's cousin, but as I made the first few blocks, the Lord put him on my heart. I love it when He does that!

Know that you are loved and prayed for, Dave.

Saddle Up Western Quilt in Progress

I finally carved out some time to actually work on the western quilt I posted about weeks ago. After that post, I never touched it, but I managed to get it cut out this weekend and started making blocks.

Monday was a crazy long day at the Sale Barn. We sold 1316 HD and it was 7:30 when I left. The sales are always longer in the fall and we were all pooped by the end of the day. If you've never been to a sale barn, just know that the pace is wild and never stops unless a rogue bull goes ballistic and jumps fences. As they say - all's well, ends well and everyone stayed safe. Back in the day they sold 3 or 4 times that many and the sales lasted until 4 or 5 next morning. Sure glad I wasn't working there then!

This is a free pattern, called Whimsical Quilt. I found it HERE and I chose it specifically to showcase some of the western fabrics I have collected through the years. It's constructed one block at a time so the sewing's a little different than the quilts I usually make.

One of DH's cousins is battling cancer and I thought I would make this for him so now I'm on a mission to get it done fast. Winters in Nebraska get cold so I'm thinking Minky (what's the proper way to spell that anyway?) or flannel will end up on the back.

The one thing I didn't like about this pattern was that I wasn't able to listen to an audio book while I worked on it. I had to pay pretty close attention to which piece went where for each step of the block making process. Even so, I ended up using the stitch ripper more than once.

However, stitching one seam and one block at a time also allows you to make good progress on your leader-ender project:

But 4 blocks have been made and there are only 12 in the quilt so I hope to have the top finished in a few days.

This afternoon I"m sewing in between batches of M&M Cookies with 2 goals. Make 4 more blocks and don't burn any cookies. :)