Happy 60th Birthday to my Cowgirl Friend

When my friends celebrate a milestone birthday I like to honor them by making them a quilt that celebrates their life with the same number of fabrics. My dear friend was turning 60 and loves horses, cats and dogs. I put out a call to my quilting friends to check their stash. I was looking for any fabrics that were cats, dogs, horses, cowboys and "I Love Lucy" (another favorite of hers). They responded and with a few trips to my local quilt shop and some online fabric searching, I had my stash. A little poking around on Pinterest gave me the basic idea for the design. Then using my Electric Quilter8 software, I designed a quilt that was blocks of cowboy boots. There are 20 blocks. Each one made with 3 fabrics = 60 fabrics. A solid beige for the background and I was set. But I needed something with pizzaz for sashing. I actually found fabric that had barbed wire in the pattern! It was great fun auditioning the various fabrics to see what would work for the toe, heel and upper part of the boot. I even had some faux leather and fluffy cow skin prints from previous projects to add dimension. My one rule...each boot had to be of the same concept. Three dog fabrics, three cat fabrics etc. It was a challenge but worth the effort. My friend was thrilled and so touched by this labor of love. I borrowed a line from Sponge Bob for the label...."made with love in every stitch". It was a fun project and something she will treasure forever.