Back in the Saddle Again

 The other day I just sat down in front of the machine and sewed.  It felt good to pick up a project and work on it again, and I finally finished piecing this still-unnamed quilt that I'm making with Debra.  She pieced the center medallion and the pinwheel blocks, mostly in western themed fabrics.  I added two side panels and borders.  You should be able to click on it to see the details.

I was taken with the western theme of the center medallion, and then my friend Leslie gave me a large piece of this old Alexander Henry fabric "Sweetheart of the Rodeo," which is a riff on the old Byrds album cover of the same name.  I've been obsessed with this image for a few years: I have a picture of it hanging above my sewing machine, so when Leslie gave me this fabric, it was double serendipity.

My only qualm with the fabric was that all the cowgirls were white.  In the service of historical accuracy, I took out my gel pens and inserted some racial diversity into the mix.

 This one got some silver "highlights."  There's no reason cowgirls all have to be young.

I love the pose of these cowgirls.  They remind me of angels.  I thought they'd be a good guardians for a western themed Virgin of Guadalupe.  I'll be sending this off to Debra soon.  We'll see what she adds.