Lone Star Eagle project

When our oldest grandson, CJ, was getting close to earning his Eagle Scout award I decided I better shift into high gear.   He is the pace setter for lots of other scouting grandsons, so I hope they will follow his good example.   It took me a full week to piece together the eagle part of the quilt, and I had to go visit Shauna Hurst and Julie Hawkins several times to figure it out.  It was easily the hardest piecing job I've ever done, but it was worth the effort.  I had this finished by April.

  Since he hadn't begun his final project, I let the Eagle "nest" for about 6 months, before I worked on it again, as I wanted to make sure he was serious about earning it this year.  Setting in the right angles and triangles around the eagle was also a little tricky, but not as bad as I had imagined.  I had Cathy Cosby do the machine embroidery of his name.

Next I made a modified court house set which created a southwest design which I really liked.  This went clear around the quilt.  I hired Jeri Montella to quilt it, using a customized pattern of the scout motto, stars, and fleur de lis.  On the outside border she alternated eagles with the scout symbol.  I love how it turned out.  It is bound with angled striped material matching the main colors.   The total cost of fabric and quilting was around $300, in addition to the 90 hours of labor.

   The finishing of this quilt, actually helped me find about $450 which I had put in an envelope in preparation for our cruise on Oct. 4.  I had searched the house for two days, and could not find the envelope with the money in it.  Part was in Euros and part US money.  Finally in desperation, I prayed that while I went to work on finishing up the quilt, I might be inspired to know where to look. 
   I had not decided on the backing for the quilt, and started looking through my stash.  After checking the cupboards and not finding anything quite right, I went to open the lid of the wooden chest on th back porch, as I moved the sacks off the top, I noticed an envelope had slid down the side be the check and my sewing cabinet...IT WAS THE LOST MONEY ENVELOPE.  BOY, THAT PRAYER WAS ANSWERED QUICKLY.  I WAS SO THANKFUL, I HAD DECIDED TO CALM DOWN, PRAY, AND SWITCH JOBS!!