A Red,White and Blue Celebration

Reds, whites, and blues

are the perfect color combinations for quilts,

especially for the month of July.
It's one of my favorite palettes
to work with and it 
brings my patriotic spirit right into my home.

I love all the red, white and blue
fabrics that the designers,
Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick,
create for Moda fabrics.

Last year this pattern

Stars and Bars
2011
was available on line.

When the fabrics arrived at the store
I knew I just had to make this quilt.
It was easy,

making sawtooth stars,

scrappy,

using lots of different fabrics
from the line,

and really highlighted the bunting
fabric and the large floral.

I machine quilted it myself
and practiced making large free formed
feathers meandering in the bars.

The only problem I had was that

after I washed the quilt, because my

chalk lines wouldn't disappear from the

dark blue bunting fabric,

the extra dye on the surface of that fabric

cocked and left the blue color
a little uneven.

But it's okay,
and gives it an aged appearance.

I had some fun with the back
using up the left overs of the
red floral and some red and white ticking.

The blue was something I had been saving for
something, which I have no idea what it was.
So it was good to use it up.

This second quilt is all
those wonderful ticking fabrics
I had been collecting again for that
elusive project.
I chose the patriotic color scheme
and started sewing.

 Ticking
Stars and Stripes Forever

 2008

There's nothing simpler than  a

four patch set together with an
alternating plain square.

I quilted it with perel cotton
and a big stitch.
It was fun and now it's
done.

I had a yard of this wonderful
striped ticking fabric, which wasn't enough for
the entire backing so I framed it with a red and white
striped ticking.

So rather than having these unique and fun fabrics
only seeing the inside of my closet,
it was fun to actually use them
and now enjoy them especially in July.

It's the perfect quilt to take to the fireworks
and wrap up in.

This last show and tell is a simple table runner
from Kim Schaefer's pattern,
Calendar Table Runners.
It's one of the months that I made
as a store sample.

 4th of July Table runner

2010

It's a fantastic way to use up some pieces
of patriotic fabric you have been collecting
and stashed away.

The appliques were fused and then machine stitched
around the edges.
Add some machine quilting,
and you have a sweet

holiday table runner.

Hooray for the simple red, white and blue
quilts
so that you can
show your colors proudly.

 Until Next Time-