Buttons and Butterflies: rodeo quilting

Friday, May 17, 2013

Tumbleweed {Blogger's Quilt Festival}

No. No need to rub your eyes.

Yes, this is another quilt for the

I had to show you my Tumbleweed Quilt, my favorite quilt so far this year.

The quilt for ME!

I have to admit. This is my absolute favorite quilt right now. It is not at all my normal taste of fabric, but it was FREE! I won it from another quilter on her blog!

I love the Houston Rodeo and really wanted to not lose the novelty of the prints so that I could have it out during the time it is in town. However, I also wanted to have a bit of modern flair, so I tried something new with the tumbler pattern.

End to end horizontally instead of vertically. (you can see the layout at the top photo).

But the reason this is my most favorite quilt and why I am sharing this quilt for the festival is the QUILTING!!!!

Yeehaw!!!

Cowboy hats!

Horseshoes with loops

More loops with....horseshoes.

Last but not least, boots....with spurs.
Cute no?

I had a TON of fun doing these freemotion all over the quilt on my longarm machine.

I did not have enough of the free fabric for a backing so I chose this brown fabric.

The flowers reminded me of Texas bluebonnets.

I am pretending the roses are some sort of Texas rose too!

Don't burst my bubble, okay?

I had enough of the scraps to do a binding, but I really liked this print when I saw it at the LQS.
It is Moda Grace Bias Stripe by 3 Sisters

I had intended to just put the label in a random corner, but I just didn't like the way it was glaringly popping out on the brown fabric.

I decided to piece some scraps at an angle and then needle-turned it to the center of the strip where I had a large expanse anyway.

Worked out brilliantly.

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Quilt Stats:

Measures: 54" x 63"

Pattern: Tumblers (end to end horizontally)

Fabric: Various floral and cowboy motif fabrics from

Moda and other high quality quilting fabric lines (fabrics were all scraps)

Quilt Pattern: Loops with Rodeo motifs by myself on my HQ Avante 18"

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I have to laugh because as I was editing the pictures I noticed a stray thread from my EPP project on the left of the backing strip a few photos above!

Proof that I have already snuggled under this with Button!

Who has somehow managed to steal MY rodeo quilt and renamed it from my awesome name of Tumbleweed quilt to

Little Horsey's quilt.

Nothing is sacred in this house.

P.S. Thanks for stopping by if you are from Blogger's Quilt Festival.
To return to the Festival, click on the image at the top!!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Tumbleweed Quilt

My first April finish (because I am secretly hoping for more this month)

My rodeo quilt!!

I have to admit.

I had reservations if I could make this into a quilt I love. I am am still not exactly over the moon about all the fabric. But free fabric? FREE fabric?

It'll do!

I think I mentioned it before, but I won a bundle of cowboy/cowboy inspired fabric last year on Carla's blog, Lollyquiltz. I guessed her least favorite color! Magenta

I am really happy with the tumbler pattern layout. It really showcases the more novelty prints.

Yeehaw!!!

Cowboy hats!

Horseshoes with loops

More loops with....horseshoes.

Last but not least, boots....with spurs. Cute no?

All of the above quilting was freehand by tracing pencil on paper, over and over, the images I pulled from the internet.

Except for the boots.

I needed a little guide for the first few to get a rhythm.

The toe/shoe angle was tough for me to get right on my own.

My trick? I moved my laser for pantographs to the front and traced the boot off to the side. You might have noticed I ran over loops in the image above because I was busy trying to race the pattern the first time! But I finally got the hang of it and didn't need it anymore.

Side note: I love the pattern so much that it is on my wish list for the next batch of pantographs I plan to buy soon! I am sure that I will need it for a few Texas clients!