Small Flags Quilt

 

During the pandemic lockdown, I distracted myself with all the UFOs I had accumulated over the years of quilting. One project I’d always wanted to do was create a full size American flag from red, white, and blue scraps. 

 

 

My husband was thrilled with that idea and the end product and when it was done, he promptly claimed it as his. It made my heart feel full. I had a ton of leftover strips of fabric when I was done with the first flag project and I felt like it would be a wonderful compliment to create a quilt that comprised of multiple small American flags.

 

 

I sewed together the red and white strips in a scrappy manor and I cut squares with the blues to fit the red and white strips. I tried to keep it in balance with what the true flag measurements are, but it might be a little off.

 

 

To finish the blocks, I put white sashing on the tops and bottoms of each flag making them square. I designed the layout similar to a weave layout, but in this case it’s the flags re-oriented with the blue part still in the correct spot. It was a little tricky to remember as I was putting it all together, but totally worth it. 

 

 

Once the blocks were sewn together, I looked at it and felt it was still missing something. I decided to border the whole thing with one of the whites used in the stripes. It creates a nice border without being to bold and overpowering. I want the focus to be the flags.

 

 

I had a nice red fabric that worked with the civil war style of the other fabrics and decided to use that for the backing and binding. Because there were so many flags, I decided to keep the quilting simple and did a basic meander. 

 

 

After it was all finished, I washed it with 2 color catchers and some of the red still bled into some of the whites. It was only specific ones though, so most of the quilt was unaffected. It adds to the antique look of the quilt, at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

 

 

I love this finish. I admit, I wish it were a little bigger, but it’s a wonderful wall hanging or rocking chair cover. It usually too hot to use quilts where we live during the summer, which is when I’m most likely to display this one, so it’s probably okay it’s just meant for décor. It feels good to have some patriotic quilts in our home that are very traditional and antiqued looking.