Label's On!! Wagon Wheels West is **Finished**

Wagon Wheels West is out of the wash, labeled, and off the UFO list!!

Wow, how good it feels to finish this - three years in the making.  It's a special quilt, going to Dad.

I like substantial labels that tell the quilt's story as well as its "demographics," and after my local quilt guild's last meeting, I don't think my labels will ever be the same. Just had to make a wagon silhouette to top this heirloom off!

The story of this one is that it's a family heirloom tribute to a straight line-up on our family tree of remarkable people who made the Western trek across the United States in wagon trains and handcart companies. The reproduction fabrics cover the range of those migrations, from 1846 to the 1890s. The flag fabric is easy to pin-point, as the US flag had 30 stars from 1848-1851. 

The top is an execution of Charlotte O'Leary's "Wagon Wheels" in the same fabrics she used. (Queen size at 78 x 98) 

Many shopping hours were spent online back in 2008 to track them down from shops all over the country!  

Finished the top in November

Those corners gave me fits. My OCD demanded perfectly matched stripes in the mitering, but the border's stripe interval didn't fit the math of both sides. So. . . I actually fussy-cut the floral stripe, mitered that onto the ends, then turned under the allowance I'd left and hand-stitched them onto the first tan portion of the other side. I was a lot happier with a skinnier tan part than with a mismatched corner miter. I oh-so-carefully centered the stripes, so all 4 corners match.  

The quilting was a bit problematic. I had very specific themes in mind, but the rich colors and busy pattern of the scrappy Broken Wagon Wheel blocks and sashing didn't lend themselves well to displaying fancy quilting. I decided I wanted to keep the motifs and let it be a fun Hide-and-Seek quilt that gives delightful secrets up to those who take the time to look closely. Patty (my local long-armer) did a fantastic job putting my covered wagon and handcart designs into wagon wheel motifs on all the blocks. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I then free-motion quilted family names into the triple inner border with my table-top. The result is, admittedly, mighty subtle, but it's a lot of fun to look closely and find the components. 

The lucky ones had a wagon and stock to pull it.

But many of them had to settle for handcarts. Can you *imagine* walking more than 1000 miles while pulling one of these over rough roads, open prairie, gullies, deserts, rivers without bridges, and mountains?

In hindsight, I would have used a heavier thread for the names. But those who know what they are will find them.  :)

Can't believe it's finally, completely finished!!

Not to worry, though - I'll get to play with the whole idea a bit more later on, as the top has a twin!

P.S. Somebody left me a really nice Anonymous comment on my last WIP post. I can't reply like I would like to do, so I want to tell you "Thank you" here both for the compliment and for following my little blog.