American Flag

Stars ‘n Stripes II

/ patchworkdaydreamer / 3 Comments

I’m pleased as punch at the way my Stars ’n Stripes quilt has turned out. I made it as a lap quilt, but as it’s to go in the cab of an old Chevy truck, I sewed some fabric triangles into the top two corners, so it can be hung up for display if wanted. One things for sure, I’ve had plenty of practice at HST’s now.

I finally found a starred fabric on the internet with the right depth of blue, and the fabulous backing fabric was a lucky find at one of the shows we’ve been to recently. I think it fits in well with the whole flag theme.

It’s only 50” by 35” but it’s the biggest quilt I’ve completed so far. Anyhow, now it goes into a cupboard to keep hidden until my other half’s birthday at the end of July. I do hope he likes it.

Sandra – Stars n Stripes
Sandra – Stars n Stripes
Sandra – Stars n Stripes
Sandra – Stars n Stripes

Link to previous Stars n Stripes post

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Almost and Nearly There!

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With the summer months upon us, Angie is wont to spend more of her free time at her hideaway home in beautiful Wales, so there are less opportunities for our Friday night sewing group to get together.

Of course, that doesn’t mean our patchwork activities are at a standstill. At the moment though, some of us seem to be just a stones throw away from finishing our projects.

I’m currently hand sewing the binding strip to finish off my Stars and Stripes quilt. I love the way this has turned out – It’s just simple HSTs but it seems to work fine.  And, I found some darling fabric in just the right shade of blue with white stars to represent the top left corner.

Meanwhile, Angie is close to completing the blocks she needs for her Starry Checkerboard quilt. Plus, she’s in the closing stages of making the Album quilt. A pattern taken from Kathleen Tracy’s excellent book, Civil War Sewing Circle.

Tracy, our Tracy that is, has a few sections of quilting yet to complete on her lovely summery bed quilt. The colours really pop and it just goes to show that the most simple of blocks can be put together to make a very effective design.

Give us a few more days, and we’ll be showing off our finished work at our next Friday night sewing session.

Angie
Tracy
Sandra

Stars ‘n Stripes

/ patchworkdaydreamer / 1 Comment

I had thought that my other half regarded my sewing with benevolent disinterest since every time I waft my latest achievement under his nose I’m greeted with a glazed smile and a ‘that’s nice.’  Turns out he thinks my patchwork passion is neat, and can he have a quilt in the shape of the American flag for his birthday, please?  He’s renovating an old Chevrolet Pickup truck and wants to drape the quilt across the seats when it’s done.  What can I say, of course, but yes?

So, when we went to the quilting show at Uttoxeter, I was on the lookout for deep reds and warm white fabrics, but most of all I was interested in a way of representing all those stars on the blue part of the flag.  I did buy some blue fabric with white printed stars, but now I’ve had chance to look at it properly I don’t think it will fit the bill as the stars are too large.  I’ll have to surf the web to see if I can’t find an alternative.  Either applique stars or a printed fabric might do.

In the meantime, I’ve decided on a series of half square triangle blocks in shades of deep red and off-white for the flag stripes.   I discovered a method for making eight at one time on the Generations Quilt Patterns website which makes the work a whole lot faster,  but don’t let anyone tell you that HSTs are simple because if you want to maintain accuracy when making loads of them you still have to concentrate. I made them oversized and trimmed each one down to precise 2½” squares.  So that’s where I am at now.  I’ve sewn up the red stripes and I’m working my way through the white ones.

IMG_0883

I may take a break from it soon though, because the new Westering Women BoM has been posted, and I do love a challenge….

.. link to Stars ‘n Stripes II