Dreamin' By the Big Muddy

A couple of years ago I was given the left over fabrics from someone's Mark Twain quilt. The Mark Twain fabric was a kind of multi-colored toile from Windham Fabrics.  I'd already purchased some Mark Twain fabric and some coordinates (although they weren't from the same fabric line), and ended up using them in a quilt for my brother-in-law.  However, I still had the original gifts to use and began piecing them into blocks.  I put those blocks with some more fabrics and came up with this:

I finished it this morning.  It's not shaped like an hour glass, but the wind was blowing, so it looks a bit deformed.
Here are some details:

The center panel of the steamboat was quilted with Fil-Tec Bobbin-Line around the details of the scene.  The rest of the quilt was done with a variety of  Fil-Tec Glide--one of my very favorite threads.  Some quilting stores and on-line shops carry them, but I order them directly from Fil-Tec.  Their on-line site is http://www.bobbincentral.com and they now manufacture and sell a wide variety of threads including pre-filled bobbins and what they call "mini-spools" of a wide variety of Glide colors--their minis are 1,000 yards!
This is a prayer quilt for our Victory Quilt ministry--in truth, all my quilts are now prayer quilts!
These are soooooo not my colors, but that Mark Twain toile just inspires me, and I have loved making both quilts and hope I have enough of the toile to make one more for a friend. Next time I'll do a few things differently.
I really wish Windham would print a lot more of these historical celebration fabrics because they are so inspiring--and if they printed more of the Mark Twain fabric (originally part of a fund raiser for the Mark Twain museum in New England), I'd have to buy more!
Of course, it's true that growing up near the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers while loving to read Mark Twain  and watching nature and clouds meant this quilt gave me ample opportunities for reminiscing.  (And, yes, I sooooooo wish I could be in Central Illinois for fall festivals like the Spoon River Drive.  I wonder if the Spoon River Mission Council choir festival is still held?)
Of course, it's been busy in central New Mexico, what with Albuquerque's Hot Air Balloon Festival. We've been blessed with truly beautiful days and even a couple of evening rains--a double blessing out where I live.