Happy Independence Day (a week late)

Last week I was sure that I would have this done on 4 July, but ran into a few snags and didn't finish until a few days later. The rush to post it was gone.

I started this quilt as part of a challenge for the Modern Modern quilters. The challenge was to make a small modern quilt inspired by traditional quilts. This is my entry, although the whole challenge thing seems to have disappeared and we are simply adding them to our upcoming exhibition.

Last year while in the US I saw a some very traditional quilts in Williamsburg, VA. They were green and red Baltimore Album style quilts. Many of them included a patriotic motif and this has been an ongoing theme in many quilts in the US for the past 200 years.

My modern flag is a study in using one colour (is it even a colour?). There are probably about 25 fabrics grouped light, medium, and dark to represented white, red, and blue. (I did not include every grey in my stash, by the way.)

I didn't have a grand plan when I started out and as usual had to improvise a bit with the sizing and relative proportions. After starting, I looked up the official sizes of the flag components and realised why mine was starting to look funny. The end result is slightly off the standard dimensions, but it's close enough for me.

I quilted each stripe with a different pattern - a new take on the sampler - and did a stipple around the 'stars'. I used a wool batting that is puffier than my usual cotton batting (something I found lurking in the back of the closet). I like the effect, especially on the stars.

Happy 11th of July!!