Hooray for the Red, White and Blue

Today's four Covered in Love finishes all have have a patriotic flair. Red, white and blue quilts are especially appreciated by the families of veterans. Kat tries to have a block drive in these classic American colors each year, and that means there are always a few orphan blocks left over for me to work with.

This first quilt is made with orphans from her Hunter's Star block drive. They make up the center of the piece. The two sailboats were sewn as lotto blocks by a member of my online guild, Sunshine. They are flanked by a few other blue blocks from other Covered in Love block drives.

The side columns are string blocks that I made. Someone donated a baggie of red, white and blue strings and I put lights on one half of each string block and darks on the other. That made it easy to make a zig zag design.

I did a different quilting motif in each section, just kind of doodling my way across the quilt. This square spiral design is a fun one to do with the walking foot, and I learned it in a Craftsy class taught by Jacquie Gering.

For the back, I used some striped fabric that I found on eBay for a steal. You'll see a lot of this for a while as I use it up! 

A few nautical scraps pick up the sailboat theme from the front. And finally, the white premade binding was donated by Nicki, making for a quick finish.

The second quilt is made from churn dash blocks that were donated as a set by Jacomina. Aren't they fun? I added cornerstones, sashing and a thin border to get up to a nice donation size.

These were fun to quilt with a different design in each block. These wavy-gravy swoops are so easy; I first saw the motif on Fiona's blog and now I want to use it All. The. Time.

The white sashing is actually the back side of a neat fabric. It has a bright red and blue metallic fireworks design. However, the sparkly ink is rather rough, so I've put that to the inside of the quilt, letting just a subtle hint of the fireworks show through.

The back uses more of that stripe and some other random chunks.

This firework fabric also has metallic sparkles, very cool! But it is nice and smooth, so I was happy to find a place for it on the back. The binding is another nice premade one from Nicki.

The third quilt actually earned a name: Deep in the Heart of Texas. And yes, it is sideways. This one definitely has a top and bottom!

There, that's a little better. We'll just set gravity aside for a moment while we talk about all these amazing blocks!

When I found the three red and white houses in the box of orphans, I knew they needed to be featured. And since home is where the heart is, when a couple of cute red hearts appeared, they were perfect to nestle between the houses.

Check out that cool Texas applique block! So fabulous! It was already stitched to the two flag hearts, and all that row needed were some wings on the ends to take flight.

Some of the supporting players tell little stories, too. How about that baseball fabric? Too bad I couldn't find any Mom or apple pie blocks. But I did find friendship stars, chunky churn dashes, and other classic quilty goodness. A little baby blue sashing between the rows, some simple stippling, and the neighborhood is complete!

You'll be shocked, SHOCKED! to see this red white and blue stripe on the back. I told you it was a good deal. Since Covered in Love is based in Texas, I'm sure this quilt will find just the right home, home on the range.

Last but not least, a scrappier bit of patriotic fervor. This quarter log cabin block quilt is primarily red, white and blue, but there are also bits of other colors. Those little pops of purple and green add a lot of interest, I think. A few of the fabrics have words and logos from the Armed Forces, too.

Each block started with a black and white nine patch and about half of them were complete when donated as orphans. 

I added strips from my own scrap strings to bring the remaining blocks up to a consistent size. I really like the final look of these blocks and will probably make this style of string block again. This one also called for a simple stipple, since the quilting is lost among the scraps. The binding is completely scrappy, too, in dark shades of blue, black and burgundy.

The back is made of red and black flannel for extra snuggly warmth and softness. Extra bulk, too. Maybe it wasn't so smart to take the biggest top, with the most seams and the most weight, and add a heavy backing. That boat pole holding up the quilt is sagging a bit as the quilt dangles over the water!

There you go, four American quilts. Which one makes you want to sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee"?