The other day I was looking through the archives of a great quilting blog, Diary of a Quilter, when I came across this beautiful quilt:

Beautiful American Flag Quilt from Diary of a Quilter

As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a quilt that my in-laws would die to have. So I’ve found my next project! I drew out the pattern this morning. I’m going to do 5 inch squares for the central design and a 7 inch border on the outside. It will end up being about 60 inches by 80 inches, a good sized throw. My husband thinks I should do a gold border, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to see. I’m afraid a gold border might detract from the design. I also flipped the quilt design, so that when it hangs landscape it will look like a flag. In the picture above it looks backwards. Just a personal design choice! I’m not sure what I want to do for the backer yet. I’m thinking of doing just a white backer with some applique stars.

Fat Quarters and other material I got for the American Flag quilt

I went to Joann’s last night to buy some more thread for my coffee quilt (I’m about to start quilting it!) and saw they had fabric quarters on sale for $0.99, so I grabbed a few. Normally I don’t bother with them since I typically need more material than that, but since this quilt requires a multitude of squares, they work for this project.

Joann’s also has all “stars and stripes” fabric on sale 50% off, which worked out perfectly for me. I got some half-yards of those. So if you wanted to make an Independence day project that you never got around to, now’s a great time to get fabric for it.

One thing I really like about this quilt is how the reds and whites aren’t “true” reds and whites; there’s burgundy, brick red, beige, ivory, yellows, etc. I’ll have to see once I sit down and cut out my squares, but I know right now I need to find more fabric for the “white” stripes.

I can’t wait to get started! But I guess I should finish my current project first…