Two special quilts

 I guess all my quilts are special but when I make a quilt for a family member for the first time it has a special quality to me. Before we made our move across the US. I worked real hard to get some tops done. I did this for two reasons.
1. I wanted to give some quilts as gifts along the way.
2. I wanted to practice and try out the many great features of our new machine.
The first one I completed was for my Dad.

I made this for his semi truck bed. It is an extra long twin. It has a cowboy theme because whenever I think of my dad I think about him wearing his Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots. I have never saw my dad on a horse. He is just the typical American truck driver. He works hard and loves what he does. I love the smell of diesel fuel. It makes me always think of my dad. Whenever we are on road trips I love to stop at truck stops just so I can smell the diesel fumes. Kind of crazy right!! Some of my best memories as a kid were of times I was with my dad either on the road or working on his truck. That is why I thought there was not better quilt to make for him then one for his truck.

This cowboy was the one that looked the most like my dad. My dad's hair is mostly gray now but I still think of him this way. Every time I see this block it makes me smile.

Here is a glimpse of some of the other cowboys on this quilt. I have worked on this quilt for 10 years. I started it when we lived in El Paso, TX. It has been across the ocean and back inside a tin lunch box. I would pull it out and work on it every so often. Finally my family pushed me to finish it so I could give it to him. Unfortunately I was not able to give it to him while I was in our home town during the move. He was not able to make his schedule work to meet up with me. So is the life of the trucker. Hopefully he will make it thru CO sometime or I will catch up with him next time I am back home. Either way I could not wait to post pictures of it since this quilt is so special to me. 

Another quilt that I made before we left was one for my half sister. I wanted to make her a quilt since I have not been able to get to know her much since I have moved all over the country since she was born. I thought I could share with her a special gift made from my talents. 

I asked her mom what some her interests were and she said that her favorite color was lime green. I found a batik with pears on it and made that my focus. I used a pattern from Quiltmaker magazine. It is a favorite of mine. I have made it many times over the years. I always enjoy the end result. The pattern is called Warm Wishes. The pattern on the site is bigger but like I said I have made this many times in multiple sizes. This one I made is a twin size. 

My sister also has a passion for music so I choose music notes for the quilting. I also put Minky on the back to make it extra snuggly. I wasn't able to give this to her since I never made the connection with my Dad but hopefully soon it can make it's way to her. 

I have quite a few more quilts to post but first I must get the binding sewn down. Back to work!