Blogger Girl's Block of the Month--The Big Reveal!

Hi Everyone,

I'm so excited about today because it is the day that we get to see everyone's finished quilts!   I loved this quilt from when I first saw the diagram and Monique asked me to join in.  Then, when I saw the photos of the yet to be released "Grant Park" fabric line from Moda, I knew it would be perfect for the quilt.

I started having some doubts as the months went by and I was making the blocks.

I felt like the background fabric I had chosen was a bit too busy.   However, I had faith in my vision, and kept going.

I was not disappointed!!  You see, the plan was to use the small pattern as block background, the medium pattern in the alternate blocks, and then the fancy, large stripe pattern as the border.

Here is the medium print in the alternate block.

I finished all of the monthly blocks easily, and next went on to churn out the alternate blocks assembly-line style.  Once I had them all finished, it was time to sew them together.  I think this was the most difficult part of the entire quilt!  You see, you have angles coming from different directions, yet they must match up perfectly.  Nothing nestles.

These are the two blocks butted next to each other.  Can you tell how the red must be sewn exactly right to get it to match up? 

The seam running from the top to the bottom in this picture is the pertinent one.  You can see that the red matches pretty well.  I thought I took a picture of a bad match, but I don't see it.

 I pinned carefully, but that didn't always help.  After struggling and ripping and resewing the first pair, I decided to baste them all by machine first.  Then I could easily rip out the areas that didn't match, pin again, and then sew the entire seam over again with a standard stitch.  This process took a bit longer, but was much easier in the end--and my angles and corners all matched up.

Once I had the center of the quilt together, the next step was the inner border.  I had gotten excited about the project and was getting ahead.  Monique hadn't sent us the finishing directions yet, but I thought as it was just borders and not too difficult, I could continue with confidence.  As I looked at the computer drawing of the quilt to decide how wide I wanted my borders, I had an idea to alter things a bit.  Monique used a narrow inner border all around the quilt.  I decided that I could extend, or finish, the pattern from the center of the quilt if I broke up the inner border with flying geese.  So I proceeded.  I wrote down all of the measurements, etc., but I've lost them in the move chaos.  I can't remeasure everything, either, since it is away being quilted.  If you are interested in the measurements, and can't figure them out on your own, let me know and I will email you later when I have the quilt again.  I do know that my inner border was not the same width as Monique's.  

So in the photo above, you can see how the flying goose unit (on the left) completes the look of the block being on point.

Since my main border fabric had a large strip running down the length of the fabric, I fussy-cut my border strips so that they were all identical.  They got sewn on and then the final narrow red border.  

And....

Voila!!!!!!!

My vision of the small, medium, and large light prints is realized!  And I love this quilt!!!

I love that it is fresh and light!  It is the most delicate, pretty, patriotic quilt I've ever made.

I can't wait to see the other versions.  You can see them here:

Monique at Open Gate Quilts

Sherri at A Quilting Life

Lissa from Moda Lissa

Denise from Quilter's Window

Jodi from Pleasant Home

I have seen other versions on other blogs and on Instagram.  I would love to see yours, if you are working on one, too.  You can email me at patrioticquilter@gmail.com

Have a great day!  

JoAnne