Where the Buffalo Roam

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

I grew up in Kansas singing about living in the lands "where the buffalo roam," but thanks to the internet, I've learned that it should be "where the bison roam!" No matter how hard I try though, I just can not seem to call this a bison. It's a buffalo to me!

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

It's a new panel from Riley Blake - and they call it a bison! What do YOU call this animal??

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Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

Riley Blake sent me the panel from their new Nature's Window collection (which should be arriving to stores any day now!), and I was excited to use it for some free-motion quilting practice! I grabbed all my brown Aurifil threads (which I admit, isn't that many!), pin basted the quilt with some Warm & White batting, and put the free-motion foot on my Juki

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

The panel looks a bit like a watercolor painting, and I knew it would be perfect for practicing free-motion quilting without the pressure of being perfect! I just wanted to add texture with the quilting.

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

I used all the colors of browns and creams to quilt swirls and loops in the buffalo fur. It was so perfectly NOT perfect!

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

The grass got a mix of green and brown threads, but I quilted large zig zags to mimic the texture of grass. (Here's a peek at my satin quilt label too!)

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

Then I switched to a really pale blue thread to quilt wavy ovals in the sky that sorta look like clouds. If you squint.

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

You can see all the different quilting designs really well on the back of the quilt too! I used the Grass Brown print from the collection on the back, and I used the Grass Parchment print for the binding.

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

I wish you could reach through the screen and feel the textures of this one! It feels so cool!

I love this size of quilt. It's small enough that I can easily quilt it on my regular sewing machine, but big enough that we can actually use the quilt as a lap quilt! It finished just about 36" x 42". 

Free-motion quilted buffalo quilt panel

The Nature's Window collection has this bison panel, but also an elk, grizzly bear, moose, wolf, and deer. If you want to practice your free-motion quilting, I highly recommend these panels!

Flexoffers

14 comments:

  1. 30 years ago,I was at a zoo with my toddler. I was chastised by another visitor for calling the bison a buffalo. Really, don’t you have something better to do…….it will always be a buffalo to me!

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    1. I'm going to jump in here. We raise buffalo/ bison in North Carolina. When we started over 20 years ago, we named our farm Sunset Ridge Buffalo Farm because that was correct back then. The proper name of Bison came up later. But it's not wrong either way. We have adapted our use of bison more recently but haven't changed our farm name.

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  2. Buffalo single, bison plural...I don't know how correct it is but that's what shows up in my head! LOL

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  3. Right or wrong there is no question in my mind. It's a Buffalo! Call it what you will ... it is a magnificent animal!

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  4. Great job! You're right...these types of panels make a great palette for practicing free motion quilting. Buffalo sounds good to me!

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  5. Bison sounds too much like a famous vacuum cleaner to me. This will always be a buffalo for me!

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  6. Buffalo to me, too .... and I love that panel; going to have to go look for it (like I need ANOTHER project!! lol)

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  7. When my son leaves the house, I tell him "buffalo!"--which means 'bye, son' (get it?).

    Great job quilting, as always!

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  8. I was amused by your post so I looked up the difference. I would have called it a bison. I don't know how I know the difference but I did get a bit of education and found out why there is confusion. Here is a link to a little history.
    https://www.codyyellowstone.org/blog/is-that-a-bison-or-a-buffalo/
    I like your quilt. I think it would make a great lap quilt.

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  9. This is a Bison to me. Being from South Africa we have buffalo and they look totally different. While travelling in the US, I've only heard them called Bison.

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  10. I just saw this panel and the wolf panel on a Fabric Patch box opening youtube video. I had to stop myself from either of them, because my panel storage is full! I need to get those panels out and finish them!

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  11. We go to South Dakota , we see a lot of buffalo , lol that’s what we call them .

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  12. Proud alumni of the University of Colorado. Our mascot is Ralphie the Buffalo. They will always be Buffalo to me.

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