My flag quilt top
The Fourth of July is a fun holiday for me. I spend it in NH on Lake Winnisquam with my brother and sister and as many of our kids as can come. My brother has 3 grandsons that live nearby and they definitely add to the fun and excitement. This year about 2 weeks prior to traveling I was on a road trip (by bus) with the Needlechasers of Chevy Chase to a quilt shop called Patches in Mt. Airy, MD.
Patches – quilt shop in Mt. Airy, MD (Picture from their website)
There was a quilt laying near the cutting table that was essentially a flag. I really loved how it was pieced together in different shades of red and white and had a star fabric for the blue canton. I immediately wanted to make one and figured, as I often do, how easy it would be to make up fast! So despite the fact that the store staff was busy cutting fabric for our 40 or so members on the trip, I was able to ask if they had the star fabric, and luckily they did.
Needlechasers shopping at Patches
Patches flag quilt.
I took this picture of their quilt because I liked the easy wavy quilting that was done on it. (Are you catching on to what was important to me?) I chose fat quarters and took them home, washed them and cut them into 3″ squares.
On the following weekend, the DC Modern Quilt Guild had a sewing retreat for 3 days. I had a serger there for a different project and decided it might be quicker to use that to sew all these squares together. Since completing it, I’m really not sure that it made ANY difference at all in the time it took, but I did love how tidy the back was when I was done.
Serged back to the quilt
I got the quilt top done at the retreat but didn’t have any backing fabric so the final backing, quilting and binding was done at home.
Working on the wavy quilting.
Quilting this way with a walking foot was very easy. I used matching thread and did a wavy line on each of the red and white stripes. I did a diagonal straight line through the star fabric.
Diagonal quilting
Finished quilt is 60 x 32.5″
I originally thought that this quilt would be a table topper but the size may be a little awkward for that. I think that we will display it off the deck as though it were a flag. Surely no one will get close enough to count the stars. Although the size of the stars look about right for the size of the flag, there are actually 70 stars!
Added later:
I gave the flag quilt to my brother and sister-in-law while cruising Lake Winnisquam in a pontoon (party!) boat from Winnisquam Marine which my brother owns and operates. It turns out that it’s actually a pretty good quilt for keeping warm.
Sunset on Lake Winnisquam
I Finally Have Time 
This is very cool! Hope you’re having fun in NH and not getting quite as much rain as DC 😉
We are getting a lot of rain here too. The boat in the last picture has a complete clear plastic enclosure and even a propane heater so we can enjoy the lake no matter what the weather. No sunburns for us this year!
Nice post, good pictures and it’s interesting to see what you did at the retreat and how you came up with the concept and materials to complete it at Patches on a Needle Chasers bus tour.
Thanks for your comment Frederick. We missed you at the retreat. Hope you’re having a good holiday today.
LOVE your flag quilt. Sorry to hear the weather is not great. Enjoy being together!
Thanks Connie. The weather is very nice today and we are enjoying it together.
Love the quilt and the story behind it.
Linda, I love the way you can see the finished project in the great variety of fabric choices! Your flag is wonderful! I am glad you are having a good time with family. We have had a wonderful beach week with many new and exciting experiences. Can’t wait to share them with you in September.
Love the pic!! Btw, Sheila had the flag quilt on the dining room table later on Friday and it looked amazing!! I think she was afraid to spill anything on it so she used it after we left.