Something clicked when Amanda Jean suggested this Scrap Basket Quilt Along.  I have been whittling away at my stash, and this seemed like a fun way to use a lot of fabric.  Boy’s quilts are especially needed, which caused me to think of the lonely pile of cowboy fabric scraps from Guthrie, OK, that has been waiting a long while to be used.  When I dug it out, I found a pile of plaid scraps left from a graduation quilt (circa 2000).  Okay, so a fun way to make two quilts.

The cowboy fabric was red, light, and blue, so it ended up like this.

I used up every smidge, including on the back, where I also added some orphan blocks, a solid, and a starry fabric.  Perfect for a little cowboy to sleep under.

To quilt it, I first stitched in the ditch between all the blocks (per this post).  I liked Amanda’s approach to the quilting (she stitched a trio of wavy lines down every column and across every row), but I wanted to change it up, so mine are twirling ropes and strands of barbed wire.  Ouch!  I alternated rows to leave blank areas.

I put hats on some. (Here’s the brown chalk stripe binding.)

And boots on others.  I’m pretty happy with the results.  Bottom Line on the bottom, Masterpiece on top.

I quickly decided to add khaki Kona to the plaids.  I did that to provide a place for the eye to rest, but it turned out to be a good idea structure-wise.  These woven plaids are very stretchy, and the solid really stabilized the whole top.  By the way, fabrics from long ago were a few inches wider than today’s.  I cut six sets of 6 1/2″ blocks from every set of sewn fabric strips, often with a bit left over to make into a block for the back.

I also used up included an unusual … mosquito? print fabric, also left from a graduation quilt of the same era.

This time I thought I would use the wavy lines, but just down and across the centers of the blocks, and really large.  And, after I found my rhythm, I was really pleased with the way I free-motioned these with no marking.

The problem came when I turned the quilt and went across the original waves.  It formed these nesting, 3/4 circle things.  Actually, it makes giant puzzle pieces between/across the blocks.  I’m not sure I like it.  I looks vaguely like the quilting on a motel bedspread.

But, it’s very even, and, with the quilting between blocks, holds the quilt together very well.  I used Superior’s Living Colors poly on top.  I bound it with the last (reasonably stable) bit of plaid.

So, all and all, a fun couple of weeks and some learning, in the name of a good cause.  See the rest of these Rail Fences at Amanda’s Scrap Basket Quilt Along over at Crazy Mom Quilts.