Jessica’s Patriotic Quilt Final Update

I have procrastinated so much, simply because I just could not come to a decision on how to quilt this quilt!

To recap: I first posted about this quilt in December 2021. Way back, when my little girl really was a little girl, she wanted to make a patriotic quilt. Together, we designed and chose the fabrics, and then she cut and pieced. And then it sat for a very long time. A lot of life happened.

My not so little girl finished the applique in early 2021 (Or was it 2020?) and sent the quilt to me. I was supposed to quilt it.

We haven’t been in any hurry up to this point, so why hurry now?

Thus…procrastination.

I finally got around to pin basting by December 2021.

My goal in February 2022 was to get the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting done.

By the end of March 2022, I had finished the SITD quilting.

More procrastination.

In January 2023, I made up my mind to get this thing done!

By January 16, I had a plan for some of the blocks and set to work making stencils and machine quilting the pieced blocks.

More life, and more procrastination (Are you getting a theme here?).

What to do with the appliqued blocks?

I am happy to say that I came up with a plan and I have my part finished!

I find it difficult to photograph black thread on black fabric.

But I think I took enough photos so that you get the general idea.

I had to work out some tension issues.

Disaster struck when I washed out my chalk marks.

My daughter and I are pretty sure that back in the day, we washed all of these fabrics before using them.

But, doggone, if a red and the black didn’t bleed profusely and turn most of the light areas a plum color!

I have managed to get most of that bleeding out. What’s left doesn’t really look all that bad.

My daughter has a tub that she can soak it in, so she can circulate Dawn soap and water around much better than I can with my washing machine. She will try to rinse the rest of the bleeding color out.

I think it is okay if she can’t.

The quilt needs to be bound, and Jessica will do that.

The quilt will live with her.

Quilt On!

Jessica’s Patriotic Quilt

When my daughter, Jessica, was a young girl, she and I designed a patriotic quilt for her to sew. She chose her fabrics, and she cut and pieced all of the blocks.

Now those blank squares were not meant to be blank. Jessica wanted to fill them with appliqued American symbols.

She found symbols in coloring pages and other places and applique proceeded slowly.

Very slowly.

A lot of life has happened, including courtship, marriage, and three children. She is becoming an accomplished photographer with her own website.

A move across the country motivated Jessica to dig into her UFOs and pull out this patriotic project to finish.

Now the flimsy is back in my house. I have the honor to quilt it for my daughter.

I have it pin basted and ready for quilting.

This will be one of those New Year’s resolutions.

Or maybe I will wait until she moves back to my side of the country.

Quilt On!

Patriotic Table Topper

As you can see from the photo above, I had a plan for a pieced border, and I had carefully cut all of the pieces.

Too bad that I wasn’t as careful as I thought when actually piecing the borders! By the time that I realized my mistake, I decided not to have a cry and a do over. I decided to just go with it.

It isn’t a masterpiece…it is a table topper…exactly what it was meant to be.

And it is finished.

I chose to quilt with the pantograph, Blue Star, from Urban Elementz. I don’t have a long arm set up, but I do have a Grace frame with a Juki set up. I am not good at it, but I try.

The fabric is busy, so the quilting design doesn’t show up well, but here is a close up:

I am embracing it.

Quilt On!

Part One

Part Two

Patriotic Table Topper Part 2

I have not accomplished a lot since my last post about the progress of this table topper.

I have add sashing between the blocks.

And I have added a border.

I want to add one more border. Who knows how to pull more time from a hat?

Quilt On!

Patriotic Table Topper

One of my Focus goals this year was to make table runners. I have made one. Maybe I can get two made before the end of the year!

With that goal in mind, I have chosen a patriotic pattern by Bonnie Hunter, called the Courthouse Square. She also has a similar pattern called Irish Courthouse that you might be interested in. I like both of them!

I ‘shopped’ my own stash, and cut out all of the parts. Then I layered nine blocks so that I could piece them all together rather than piecing one block at a time.

I pieced the blocks from the center to the outside.

A close up look at one of the completed blocks:

All nine completed blocks:

And that is where they sit (or hang, actually…on the design wall); waiting for me to decide if I want to set them the same as in the pattern, or do something else. I need to decide the size that I want.

Quilt On!