Don’t Fence Me In
September 2015

This is my 54th quilt donation to foster children, and it, along with my last two quankets Country Fair and Flower Power, will be donated to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County this month.

This fence rail block pattern went together pretty quickly. Using the strip quilting technique and having very few intersecting seams make this a really nice pattern for beginners. I liked how the design used different strip widths, and by randomly placing the fabrics, it turned out very different from my Switchbacks quanket that also is a fence rail pattern.

The solid green fabric was a leftover fabric from Edith, while the rest were new fabrics from the local fabric shop’s remnants bin. The inspiration for the name came from the old Cole Porter song, Don’t Fence Me In. As someone who loves backpacking, sailing and road trips, I feel a personal connection to the lyrics,

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies
Don’t fence me in
Let me ride through the wide country that I love
Don’t fence me in

Don’t Fence Me In will be included in this year’s 100 Quilts for Kids program, which runs through the end of September.