The Cowboy Quilt

The Cowboy Quilt is a "Whack and Stack" quilt.  I saw a picture on the web, and the gal said it was her very first quilt, and so I knew I could do that too.  I read her directions and THOUGHT I knew what she meant.  However, I did not understand what a "repeat" of a fabric was, and I needed 8 repeats per pinwheel.  I went fabric shopping, looking for something that had a "repeat."  I knew that I needed to stack 8 of the "repeats" in a pile, and then cut the triangles.  I'm thinking "fussy cuts" even though, at the time, I didn't know that term.  Anyway, I found some cowboy fabric, and yes! it had repeating pictures, so I thought this would be perfect.  Here is the fabric:

I proceeded to cut out the fabric, and oh!  so much fabric was wasted.  I would cut out 8 boots, or 8 sheriff badges.  I didn't understand that you just layer the fabric, mark and pin like elements, and cut a ROW of fabric, and make triangles from that row, irregardless of what was pictured on that triangle.  (I learned this lesson later, thanks to You-Tube.)  I also was not able to cut through 8 layers of fabric, so I ended up actually fussy-cutting all my pieces, one at a time.  Very time-consuming but I was new at this, and excited by the process and the results.  After you had the 8 triangles cut out, you arranged them points together, and it made a kaleidoscopic.pinwheel.  They were BEAUTIFUL!!  Each one was a surprise, and I was thrilled!  I made some of my pinwheels go clockwise, and some counterclockwise.  In retrospect, I wish I had made them all going the same direction, but again, live and learn.  I wanted this quilt for my husband and we have a California KING waterbed, so it was quite a humongous project.  It took a long time to piece the top.  The finished top was 90" x 90". But then came MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.

Quilting a king size quilt with a little sewing  machine is not do-able.  I ripped out and ripped out and tried again and again. There was just too much material to fit in the throat of the sewing machine, and too much bulk to maneuver through that little space.  I finally gave up, and the cowboy quilt was put on a shelf for over a year.  Then my sweet husband bought me a new sewing machine for my birthday.  Another Brother, but top-of-the-line.  (What a sweetheart!)  It was designed for quilters, and had a much larger throat.  I was able to finish the cowboy quilt, and even with all it's flaws, I love it.  Another quilter gave me this very helpful advice, and I rely on it to this very day:  "If a man on a galloping horse goes by and doesn't notice the mistakes in the quilt, it's not significant enough to worry about."  What good advice!