Create for a Cause Blog Hop Patriotic Quilt for Veteran

see disclosure

Today’s Put your foot down will be available tomorrow, Friday Feb 5th.

Welcome to day 4 of the “Create for a Cause” Blog Hop. Today fellow Island Batik Ambassador Janet Yamamoto from Whispers of Yore and I are sharing our finishes using Freedom 2 designed by Kathy Engle. You can have a closer look at the individual fabrics in the collection by visiting the Island Batik Freedom 2 page.

There is also a Store Locator link to find your nearest lqs that carries IB fabric.

So let’s get to it. As you can see there are are a couple shades of red and blue with different designs. Some are swirls, some are stars, there is the Statue of Liberty. the national seal and also a design that reminds me of fireworks. If I had to chose just one as a favorite it would be difficult but I do ♥ the white with gold stars. Oh, and then there is the fabric that says Honor, America, Loyalty… FYI, the yellow and purple fabric above is not part of the collection.

My design

Naturally I had to make something for a veteran and I played with the layout a little. The blue background in the eagle block looked out of place. Then there is the problem with the end of the beak, how did I manage to place a light yellow piece of fabric there? The yellow is from the Forget Me Not collection.

I wasn’t real happy with the blue background or the eagle itself so I went back to work. This is much better. For the large stars I paper pieced the points and used the AccuQuilt 2″ finished square to cut the center and corners with my GO! Big. For the friendship stars the 2″ finished square and half square triangle die. The eagle is paper pieced and I used a pd stock image I found online and modified it a little bit to fit my need.

The dark blue border fabric I wanted to use as much as I could since this will be gifted to a veteran wounded in action.

 

 

Batting

This was a first for me, Hobbs Poly-Down Polyester batting. It has a nice loft and feels so much softer than the normal high loft poly batting. It went in the laundry Monday and it did shrink up more than a low loft but if you like the fluff you’ll love this batting.

Below is after laundering, its so fluffy and I feel better about my quilting. Just so you know, it doesn’t get smaller as you go down its my photography skills. Not really, I have boxes stacked for a baby shower this weekend and couldn’t kneel.

It’s also been cold and snowing or raining since I finished so outside photos were impossible.

The most rewarding part of this challenge is presenting the quilt to my school mate Darrell who fought for us and was wounded in the middle east. Enzo photo bombing hoping Darrell was going to lay it out of the floor to get his photo taken too. Wonder if I have enough fabric left to make and quilt for QOV?

Last but certainly not least I have to give a shout out to Schmetz Needles for their Mictotex Sharp Chrome Needles that I have been using faithfully since receiving my very pack last year.

 

28 Comments

  1. I was amazed at your beautiful eagle, then to find out that you made it twice! They are both wonderful What a great quilt to give your friend to thank him for his service. He looks very pleased to get it.

    1. These are my favorite stars but only if they are on point. Several years ago I made a whole quilt with these blocks on point and I love it, its been on my bed since.

  2. Wow! I love this, especially the eagle center! For the love of eagles! This is amazing, and so great that you could gift it to someone you know.

  3. This is a gorgeous quilt, Denise. Well done!! I love Batiks. The sew together so nice with little stretching.

  4. Wow this is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. I am sure your friend loves it and it is perfect to snuggle into.

  5. What a great tribute. The batik fabric colors are so crisp and clear, they really make your piecing and design shine.

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