Quilt #2: Logan Cade

A grand adventure is about to begin.

- Winnie the Pooh

In my 24 years of quilting, I have made many football quilts, I have made many baby quilts, and I have made many football, baby quilts.

They all began with Quilt #2: Logan Cade…

If you’ve read about my very first quilting experience, you know that my second quilting experience required starting the learning process all over again.

When I did so in 2009, I was asked to select fabrics for a small lap quilt which would use this block pattern:

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and there were way too many stunning fabrics to sort through in the shop.

Luckily, this vintage football pattern hollered my name:

Then a brown, textured solid jumped into my path.

It also made me think of a football, so a football quilt I would make.

If you grew up in north-central Texas as I did, then you know that footballs and stars mean only one thing: the Dallas Cowboys.

As divinely ordained, I noticed that this Dallas Cowboy licensed design had the perfect sized helmets to use in my 4-patches which create the center of my stars.

The final piece to my fabric puzzle was a navy leaf pattern that reminded me of fall with its crisp Friday nights under the lights, sunny Saturday afternoons on college campuses, and NFL kickoffs after Sunday dinner.

Fabric pull complete.

Once my quilt was designed, it could be meant for only one person: my precious baby cousin, newly arrived Logan Cade.

Logan is my cousin’s first child; I am his Aunt Ashli, and although I haven’t been able to live geographically close to him, I treasure our relationship. He has an amazing heart and the sweetest personality. He is a sports guru, an incredible athlete, and a really good leader. He’s brilliant and clever, and I can only imagine where his dreams and work ethic will take him.

He's also one of Coach's biggest fans 🤩

Watching our family’s next generation grow up is such a gift! It seems like just last year they were all babies and toddlers. Now they’re zooming through school, making plays for their teams, and becoming incredible young people.

I remember back to that beginning quilt class and how each weekend when we met as a group, as I worked on my homework throughout the week, I kept Logan in my heart and in my thoughts. I was so happy to be sewing that quilt just for him.

I also remember my instructor, Gloria.

She was fantastic. She had to have been 80 or more years old in 2009 – I pray that she is still sewing and still teaching and still sharing her vast knowledge.

Patient and kind and generous and sweet, she introduced me to the best type of quilt teacher, the type who teaches through love and friendship.

By our last class, I was officially hooked.

When life gets hectic and chaotic and busy, I may set my quilting to the side for moments, months, even years, but I never put it away. I always come back to my machine, my awe-inspiring-yet-somewhat-ridiculous fabric collection, and my quilting community. It’s my therapy and my hobby and now even a nonprofit business that I launched in 2019 to connect quilters with the fight to end Alzheimer's disease.

I hope you have an activity like that in your life. One that remains in your heart even when you must focus on other things. One that ignites your imagination and feeds your creativity.

Don’t worry if not, you can always hang out with me, quilt along, and enjoy Green Hills together.

Praying for you all!

With love and hugs,

Ashli