When I was five years old I received a Scottie dog as a gift.  He was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, he not only walked but also barked.  I was in love.

When I saw this print I knew it was going to come to Prairie Quilt, I don't even care if anyone buys it, every time I walk by it I feel happy and I smile.  I am trying to decide what to make out of it so I can keep looking at those little dogs long after the bolts have been emptied.

I wear aprons when I cook so maybe that, or it would make a darling baby quilt, but I don't think I could give it away unless it was someone really special.  Maybe a simple nine patch tablecloth?  I will post the creation once I decide.  



Click here to see all the Walk In The Park fabrics.

I am a sucker when it comes to western fabric, and it has to do with my up- bringing.  Let me explain, I was raised on a farm near Fort Scott, Kansas with my many brothers and sisters.  Mom was about as comfortable around horses as she was people, and she raised us to enjoy the freedom of riding. When we were just little tykes she would saddle up three horses, and two of my sisters and I would ride in the pastures for hours.

Once I moved to the city, all of that ended. It wasn’t until forty years later when I moved to Hennessey, Oklahoma that I once again began riding.  For my city slicker friends let me explain the difference between a farm and a ranch: if you plow it, plant it, harvest it – it is a farm.  Since we have turned all of our fields into grazing pastures for our horses, our place is considered a ranch, but I doubt we will ever think of it in that terminology.  To us and our children it will always be ‘the farm’. It is a place dear to our hearts where you come to see what the world was supposed to look like without the fast paced life of our current society.  We ride our horses and, once again, I can feel that feeling I felt as a child, wild and free.

So, when I see western fabric I look at it in a completely different perspective than other fabric.  When a salesperson comes to the shop and shows me fabric I try to figure out what I can use this fabric for and if my customers would be interested in it. But when they pull out the western fabric I go back into time where I am eight years old and riding the range singing at the top of my lungs “Give me land, lots of land and a starry sky above, don’t fence me in.”  And then I hear me saying “I will take it all.”  There will always be a bit of country in me and there will always be western fabric at Prairie Quilt.

I couldn’t wait for the Downton Abbey fabric to arrive and yes, the fabrics really do represent the people they were designed after. I chose Lady Edith’s fabrics to make my first Downton quilt. The design is from the Deco Flora pattern, it is a rather funky design so I thought it would fit her personality. Isn’t this bizarre? People are actually choosing fabrics and patterns based on what they know about these people’s screen personalities. It is as if they are making a Christmas gift for the characters!

Lady Edith- If you have followed the PBS television series Downton Abbey you  know who Lady Edith is. If you have only seen it a few times you might remember her as the one who gets left at the altar. If you have never seen the English series you must think those of us who rave about it are a bit touched in the head. There truly seems to be a cult like feeling to this line of fabric, it is flying off the shelves and we have already placed a reorder.

Exquisitely Designed DressesOne of the things I personally love about show is the exquisitely designed dresses with wonderful detail and panache. My mother and my grandmother actually made dresses with intricate detail and tailoring as fine as any of the Downton clothes so I am keen about having the television control in my hand to pause the screen to get a better look at those lovely garments. I can still picture my grandmother with a small hat, matching dress that fit her perfectly, and pumps that I always dreamed I could wear someday. Even the seam of her nylons was perfectly vertical on her legs.  What happened to this elegant style? How my grandmother would wail if she saw me going to work today in cowboy boots, jeans and a hoodie.

But I digress, whether you choose to use the fabrics for clothing or quilts, you really should check all four of the ladies fabric lines out, you might just find yourself falling in love with the aristocracy.