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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fabric... Welcome to the Patriotic Quilter where I like to share all things quilty as well as red, white, and blue! Please feel free to look around and enjoy yourself! I would love to hear from you.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

My Bee Sampler Quilt

Hi Everyone,

As promised I am revealing my completed bee sampler today.  Please forgive the photography, though.  I wanted to take some nice photos outside, but a storm came up and then everything was wet, so I had to make do with the indoor pictures.


Here it is with the border on it.  I love the curve of the border.  I think you can see now why I didn't want to mess with the size of the star square.

Here is the center again, since the quilt laying on the floor is so distorted.
 
 
Here is another view from the side.
 
 
A detail of the border.  When I assemble the border, I was REALLY careful about the stars to make sure they were al standing up in the correct position--point up.  When I got it attached, I brought it down and laid it out and double-check everything and I did find one mistake, but it was easy to rip out as I didn't have the outer background strips on it yet.
 
 
The original pattern for this quilt was not at all patriotic.  I began it in different colors--using my Thimbleberries fabrics--but I wasn't really excited by it.  Then when we got to the rectangular area, I realized I could substitute the series of small blocks with a flag, and then the new version "clicked" in my head.  I ended up switching out some blocks that had flowers and butterflies for some substitutes like this carpenter's wheel block and another from a copy of  Quiltmakers 100.  The border was supposed to look like a flower on a vine:  if the red squares in mine were pink, and the plaid fabric was yellow, and the rest was green, it would look the way it was supposed to.  By fussy-cutting those stars, I think I was successful in detracting from the flower-look.
 
 
 
 
Now for a shameless request:  My mom has entered one of her photos in a contest.  If you have facebook, you can easily vote, if interested, by clicking on this link.
 
This is a thumbnail of her photo of bald eagles.  It really is a good picture and should win, in my opinion, but it is my mom!  Thank you very much if you are able to vote!
 
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth! 
JoAnne
 
 

19 comments:

  1. Wow... it turned out great! Love the border... doesn't look in the least flower-y! More like a ribbon/bunting border... great job!

    Voted for your mom's beautiful photo!!! It's amazing!

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  2. Wow! That border really makes the quilt. I've done a lot of samplers but my borders are always blah. I'll have to try something like yours on my next sampler.

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  3. Oh JoAnne, your Bee quilt is absolutely fabulous!!! I don't have facebook, but hope your mom wins!!

    Blessings

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  4. This is quilt is awesome! The border is the perfect finishing touch - love how you used the stars. Just perfect!!

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  5. I love this! It's beautiful.

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  6. That is a beauty------love, love that border.

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  7. You did a wonderful job with the whole quilt, and those stars really made the border have such a creative, original feel. Great job filling in those pesky extra points, it was well worth the added work. Beautiful finish, now, I'll go vote for Mom!
    :-}pokey

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  8. Nice job turning that sampler into a patriotic delight. I love how you incorporated the flag design. The border is perfect--not a hint of flowers!
    Oh, I know how easy it is to get those stars turned the wrong direction--glad you only had to deal with one!

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  9. Fabulous quilt ... love it! You should feel funny about promoting your mom's photo ... it is a GREAT picture of our national bird ... REALLY well done! Of course I voted for it ;-) Great 4th to you as well! Linda

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  10. Awesome Quilt ! That border is Amazing ! Happy 4th of July !

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  11. Beautiful quilt JoAnne! Such creativity in the star border... love it! I'm not on Facebook so I can't vote... but your Mom's photo deserves to win!

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  12. Your quilt is beautiful JoAnne. I really love it! I wanted to wish you a happy holiday! I will go check out your facebook page...

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  13. Your quilt is SPECTACULAR, JoAnne!!!!!!

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  14. This sampler quilt is fantastic! And that border.....AWESOME!

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  15. It's a gorgeous quilt! I love the border. It doesn't look like flowers at all to me.

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  16. I think the border really makes this quilt. And from your pictures I don't think anyone would notice you'd painted the stars unless you told them. Beautiful job!

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  17. Simply stunning! And the border is so perfect with that center....love this! blessings, marlene

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  18. It's so you and nice borders!

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  19. LVOE< LOVE LOVE the border with stars.....excellent work!

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