Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Give Me Liberty

July has been a hot, busy month
and it was nice to work 
on a small quilt to
commemorate the  signing of 
Declaration of Independence 
of the United States, July 4, 1776.


"Give Me Liberty"
30" x 36"

This July mini started out as
vintage x-stitch piece picked up by a 
friend at a
"jaunting for junk" sale in Nebraska
a couple of years ago.


I'm thinking it was a piece completed 
during the bicentennial, July, 1976.


I'm sure many of us did something similar.
My friend, Liz, thought I would like to
create something with it because of my
family patriots who served during the Revolutionary War.

She was right.
It took a few months to come up with a plan
and then to do the math to make the pieces fit.
But it didn't take long for my head to hurt because
the numbers were not good quilt making numbers.

I decided to go ahead and make hst's and see
what happened.  The surprise was that by some
miracle it worked out.  It sure didn't on paper.


The next pieced border needed 
a couple of coping strips to make 
it fit. 
In this case, the measurements looked good on paper,
but when it came to adding the 
3" sawtooth star borders they was too short.
Adding some narrow background pieces on both ends
solved the problem. 
Who wouldn't  know that I didn't plan 
it that way.
So much for paper and pencil!


I had to look far and wide for
an outer border that wasn't too plain
or too busy.
 I finally found 
an older French General print that 
was the perfect one.
I pulled all the colors that were
in the original stitchery 
and use them to create the quilt.


Along with another French General piece and a very old
 Barbarar Brackman civil war fabric, 
complete with cannons and flags,



I put together a backing.


Most of the quilting was simple
but the outer borders called for something more elegant,
like feathers.
I really enjoy quilting
 organic freestyle feathers.


It gave the quilt the finishing touch.

It's a sweet quilt to be included in 
my July collection of
red, white and blue and is
a special way to remember
that so many have given their best just for me.

Be sure to check out the links of other fabulous
monthly minis
on Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter.


Until Next Time-
Kyle


22 comments:

  1. What a GREAT little stitchery! And you did a lovely job of turning into your mini.

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  2. Love love love!!! Popping in from Rogue Quilter’s reading list. This is a treasure, for sure!

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  3. What a perfect mini finish for July. I love that cross stitch center. I remember making many stitchery projects during the summer of the bicentennial. I don't recall this one, but it is just perfect in this wonderful mini! I will link you in on Friday's post. Thanks for another great mini!

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  4. Great idea to add this lovely stitchery !
    Your quilt is just perfect with it and I love your red border too !

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  5. Lovely patriotic mini and perfect quilting!

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  6. What better way to celebrate our nation's independence and heritage than giving this wonderful stitchery a quilty frame. Love your new mini!

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  7. Kyle! This is fabulous in every way. I love how you have honored that cool cross stitch, and created perfect borders for it. So balanced, using great fabrics and contrast. It's a great medallion quilt and addition to your patriotic collection.

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  8. Fabulous again Kyle! What a great design to highlight a super fun vintage embroidery. I love the borders. The FG fabric is just perfect for the final one.

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  9. A perfect finish for a vintage embroidery piece. I used to look at textiles in antique shops but they became so picked over that I gave up finding anything really interesting at a decent price.

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  10. What a charming cross stitch for the center of this Patriotic Medallion. I love all the details especially Washington crossing the Delaware.
    It is such great quilt for July! The blue stars sparkle. Can you tell I have a crush on this quilt?
    Hip Hip Hooray for you and this little quilt.

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  11. What a beautiful cross stitch, I recognize the Dutch heritage. The Dutch windmill in New York that once belonged to the Dutch and was called New Amsterdam. In 1674 they traded it for Suriname.
    You made a wonderful historic quilt out of it! I love it!

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  12. This mini is simply marvelous. You gave the cross stitch a fantastic place to be admired. What a lovely wallhanging. Perfectly patriotic.

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  13. What a clever idea to combine cross stitch and quilting! Love that panel and the way you framed it for a fabulous finish! Beautiful feather quilting, too! Yay!

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  14. This is such a pleasing little quilt. Just love the bold red triangle border and those blue stars! And your outer border fabric is perfect. Really great combination all the way around.:) Funny how we can measure and plan and still, things go together the way they want to!

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  15. What an interesting cross stitch. You found a great way to use this piece. The final quilt looks great.

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  16. What a perfect way to use that cross stitch piece. Glad it all worked out in reality even though it didn't on paper. It's a very charming finish and a nice addition to your patriotic collection.

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  17. You took a special stitchery and turned it into quite a sweet piece. The French General border fabric was a perfect compliment to the cross stitch. Love this one so much!

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  18. So many fun things to enjoy in your mini! I'm glad you decided to take the plunge, quilting math be damned. What weight thread did you use for the quilting?

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  19. I love this. What a great idea to take a commemorative piece and surround it with borders. This will is really a keepsake.

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  20. Oh, I so love this! What a great needlework piece to start with, and you really did it justice. Its so happy looking! The indigo stars look like vintage - are they? I gave up on math a long time ago, relying instead on eyeballing, coping strips, and the kismet of random luck.

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  21. That is so cool how you incorporated that cross-stitch piece into a patriotic quilt. And your choices of colors and patterns for the borders make this whole thing shine! Nice job!

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  22. This is a wonderful piece! The cross stitch sampler is nicely done and interesting - does not appear to have been sewn from a kit. The fabrics you have chosen to coordinate are perfect. A bonus the fabric math worked out. I have ancestors who fought in Revolution who were from Massachusetts. A patriotic project to have during a presidential election year.

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