Book Quilt: Cavanaugh

Sometimes when I have an idea for a quilt, it comes out on sketch paper in pieces parts. I may have an idea, but it's not fully figured out yet, so the drawings really don't make sense to anyone else but me for awhile. And that's just fine with me :)

Copyrighted Image provided by Martingale, Brent Kane, photographer

I originally had the idea of diagonal stars, but then I reworked the block and it worked so well to make this quilt. Actually, the first layout I had was for all of the "stripes" to run vertically. Then as it was laying on the floor my Hubbin had this idea and I liked it too. This design would work well either way, but this quilt is yet another one from my stash. I love stash quilts, they're the best! Who knows, maybe one day I'll remake it with the stripes vertically and change up the colors.

I named this quilt Cavanaugh for one main reason. My Great Grandmother had a sister named Winnie and the two of them were inseparable for most of their lives.

Plus, both girls shared the same birthday, seven years apart (I think). On the left is a picture of Edith, Winnie and one of their brothers (there was 11 kids) and on the right is the two girls again about 80 years later. Sooooo sweet.

Well any who, Winnie married into the Cavanaugh family. For as long as I can remember, if I could have picked any last name in the world, it would be Cavanaugh. It's just one of those weird things I've always thought of. It's a good strong name and it fit well with the mix of fabrics that I used.

This quilt is one of my favorites from the book, not only due to the design and the fabrics, but somehow in the midst of deadlines and the craziness, I utility quilted this entire quilt. I really didn't have time to do it, but it needed to be done. Machine quilting on this pattern just wasn't what I had in mind and I'm sure if I long-armed it, I wouldn't have been happy with the end result.

So do you think the name fits the quilt? And I have to ask, am I the only person who thinks about a different last name if they could pick one? Just wondering. Gotta go pack my bags to head to Shipshewana!!! ROAD TRIP!!!