Coming Home, Snow Days, Prayer Flag, Quilt Exhibit

With so much snow this winter, I've had lots of time to sew and quilt. I finished a Quilt of Valor, participated in a Quiltalong, made a Prayer Flag, and then made more just because . . . 

When I read the appeal for quilts for veterans on the Quilt History List that I subscribe to I knew I had to make one. Maybe you'd like to, too? Quilts of Valor was established in 2003 and to date has distributed an astounding 97,209 quilts to our veterans! 

You won't want to miss the Quilt Exhibit in April sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Study Group. Details below. 

I had a lot of patriotic fabrics including a panel with flags of all sizes and shapes. The center was inspired by an antique quilt in All Flags Flying by Robert Bishop and Carter Houck (1986). I started Coming Home last October and finished it this week though I still have to do a label. It will be one of the quilts in my upcoming exhibit in April after which I will send it off to Quilts of Valor. It is 60" x 80."

Barbie Vanderfleet-Martin quilted it for me and suggested a large star design in red thread which turned out great! Hopefully, you can see it in this close-up.

I had enough fabrics in my stash for the strips on the back then purchased mini-stars on beige for the 4 panels. 

Here's a detail.

When I read about the Mid Winter Blues Quilt Along on Barb Vedder's blog, Fun With Barb, I thought I'd give it a try. Here is the link to Lori's Humble Quilts and the instructions for making this small piece. I really enjoyed following along and learned some new techniques in the process. I've decided to call mine Snow Days and intend to hand quilt it.  It's 21" x 21".

I made this small Prayer Flag for a friend and sewed a piece of selvage across the top for ties.

 Then I made another just because . . .

And another. No, I didn't piece these diamonds. This fabric reminded me of the patchwork designs at the Olympic Games . . . 

And another from 2" leftover squares :)

And this one from Cheater cloth. I have no idea what I'm going to do with these little flags but I'm having so much fun making them. Each one is lined and I'm thinking of tying them together and hanging them as a valance on the window in my sewing room. I'll no doubt continue to make more until I run out of selvages that are long enough to use as ties. 

Mark your calendars for the quilt exhibit and seminar in Flemington, NJ April 5-13. Quilts in the exhibit are on loan from five local organizations that will simultaneously exhibit other Hunterdon County quilts. The fee for the seminar on Sat. April 12th is $50 and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Featured speakers are Sue Reich, Karen Dever, Newbie Richardson, and Dana Balsamo. For more information contact Judy Grow at judy.grow@comcast.net with Common Threads Quilt Exhibition in the subject line.

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Copyright 2014, Barbara Schaffer