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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Hurray for the Red, White & Blue!

Mom, apple pie and America!  The red, white and blue, the marches, the sentiment!  I love a waving flag.  How can you not be moved by the Fourth of July in America? 

I do love red, white and blue quilts.  I only have several.  I'm showing just a few of those.  I thought I had pictures of my red, white and blue log cabin, but I can't locate them.  It's just a top right now.  If there weren't already things on the design board I would have put it up there to take a picture, but I'll just have to save it for later.

One that I own, my mom made and It came into my possession after my dad passed away, too.  Another that I have is in the process of quilting.  I should say HAND quilting and it's been in that process for a LONG time.  It is a copy of an antique quilt I own that is in less than good shape.  It was just loved to death!  I'm saving those two for a later post.  As soon as the quilting is done you'll get to see both of these.

So, here are the ones that are finished and photographed.  Oops, one is just a top, I'll explain under the picture of it.

The first is the oldest of the ones I've made.  It was made in a class when rotary cutting quilts was fairly new.  It's my least favorite, but it is more of a quilt for grandson's than some of mine so I get it out for them when they sleep over.


Why is this my least favorite?  Many reasons.  First it is just 3 fabrics.  Second, it is the first or at least one of the first quilts I machine quilted.  It's quilted with invisible thread.  My skill level wasn't the best!  It is made up of LARGE pieces.  I never make quilts with pieces this large throughout.  There may be large pieces, but mostly they are much smaller.  However, I did learn a lot on this quilt and it's fine -- just not a favorite except for the red, white and blue part.



I do like this little quilt.  It is only 25" square.  It is called Northwind.

Notice the windmill blocks in the corners -- fitting don't you think?

The quilting, which you can't see here is maple and oak leaves in the main part of the quilt.  There are vines and smaller leaves in the border.  Yep, I like this little quilt.  Hope you do too.


I've shown you this one before.  It is my 9/11 quilt.  It traveled 3 years with other AQS authors quilts.  It touches my heart.  I shed tears during it's making.  It has a lot of symbolism in it.  It just says patriotism to me.





The last one is an unfinished flag.  A while back -- okay, a LONG while back our daughter Mindy asked me to teach her to applique.  It was close to the Fourth of July.  I chose to show her how to applique using a star.  No curves, but lots of points.  Both "inee" points and "outee" points.  She did not add a border to hers and she chose to frame it with batting hanging out.  It looks wonderful hanging in their bedroom with the Log pole poster bed and the red accented walls.

I'm undecided about the primitive looking embroidery on my version.  Until I decide whether or not to leave it.  This little flag will remain unquilted.  Still, it's cute.

The final picture is not quilts.  It was taken the fourth of July our daughters family including her 4 kids and our son's middle daughter came to visit us when we lived in Montgomery.  The girls wanted us to be patriotic down to our toes.  So we were.  We did patriotic pedicures.  It was fun.  Granddaughters, you gotta love their spirit -- especially when it's the American Spirit.



Hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July!  Bring out the red, white and blue!


Until next time - quilt patriotic quilts!

Lois

1 comment:

Lynette said...

Hello - I was looking for blue and white quilts with red to inspire me for a quilt I need to make for a friend, and your Northwind caught my eye. Had to stay a while and look through your other quilts on the page. You 9/11 quilt is amazing - no wonder it toured so long!