This past year has just gotten away from me. I made and donated a quilt for Wounded Warriors this time last year. Wounded Warriors is an organization to support veterans and their caregivers. They not only help the veterans, but their caregivers, families and friends. They provide safe environments for veterans and bring families together at retreats and events. They also sponsor workshops that focus on nutrition, sleep, etc… To find out more information about this great organization, go HERE. I have a friend who signed up as a caregiver when her son came home from the Navy. By becoming a caregiver, she was given much needed assistance and resources. She was able to meet other people who understood what she was going through.

I had a fun time searching for Red, White and Blue fabrics. I really wanted to make a patriotic quilt in color and design, so I had a theme of star fabric and star designs in my quilt. I went is search for the perfect pattern. I found it in the book, “Quilted Living: Casual Style for a Comfortable Home” by Gerri Robinson.

If you are interested in this book, you can find it at Fat Quarter Shop.

The first thing I always do when making a quilt is cutting and labeling all of the pieces. This process keeps me organized so that I don’t accidentally sew the wrong things together. I usually label them using the round stickers people use to label things at garage sales. These stickers are nice because they come off easily without leaving any sticky residue on the fabric.

I like to work each section in batches. If I use the assemble line approach, it makes my sewing smoother and quicker. This is when I usually pop in a movie and just go to town sewing.

Once I finished each of these in each of the fabric patterns, I sewed them together to form the wavy line between each of the star layers.

I did the same technique to work on all of the star bursts.

One I get the block sewn together. I take one of my large square rulers (either an 8″ or 10″ depending on block size) and square off the edges. Cutting the edges will leave me with a perfect square so that all of my other squares will match up perfectly when finishing up the quilt top.

Now it is time to saw each of the stars together in their rows. I just have to rotate each of the star patterns as I go along.

Each of the rows came together nicely. I just would rotate between the stars and the wavy lines.

The next step I take is working on the back of the quilt. Here I had to cut out two different parts and sew them together so they are big enough for the backing. Normal quilt fabric is about 42″ to 44″ wide, so depending on quilt size I may have to sew 2 or 3 panels together. Then I make the binding to hold the quilt altogether.

I have put in all of my quilt lines and added the binding. Now all that is left is a few more pictures of the finished quilt.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this wonderful patriotic quilt. It was made with a lot of love. I hope the person who received it is really enjoying it.