Patriotic 4th of July Quilt

I am building my collection of themed quilts. I got the idea of this quilt on Pinterest, although I did lay out the squares in a different pattern.

I bought the fabric from JoAnn's. They had a nice selection of patriotic fabrics.

Putting the blocks together was very simple. I sewed strips together and cut into the size of squares I needed.

I tried laying out the blocks in different patterns and liked the way it looked with the chevron.

Again, this was a very easy pattern to put together.

Here's the finished quilt top ready to take to the quilter.

I had my machine quilter make a firework pattern with a variegated red,white and blue thread on the back. The backing is a white star on white, so the quilting shows up prettily with the simple fabric. Below are the details.

So happy that this quilt is done and I'm excited to display it come July.

Progress on the Snowflake Quilt

I started this quilt many years ago. I think that I bought the pattern in 2008. The first snowflake I completed was in 2010. There are 6 patterns that can create a variety of snowflake designs. I have completed 4 of the 6 patterns and have 2 more to go. This is the most complicated quilt I have worked on to date. Since Benjamin has been born, I have (for the most part) been consistent with spending 30-45 minutes a day working on piecing. I'm happy with the progress I've been making. There's still lots of work to do!

Here's a sneak peak at the fabric for a lap quilt I'm going to work on for a little break:

Quiet Book

I fell in love with this Moda print block and when I found the pattern and material at Just Sew, I knew I needed to buy the kit. I was a bit worried that I was getting in over my head, but reading the instructions over and over again helped me get through this project. I took a break from the snowflake quilt to make the quiet book. I spent three weeks on this project. It's one of the most expensive books that Benjamin will ever own.

I love the blackboard fabric. I haven't gotten any chalk yet because it will go straight into Benjamin's mouth. The front page has a zipper where you put the chalk and fabric to wipe the board. Benjamin enjoys looking at the different pictures and likes to flip the pages. Below is a video of all the pages.

Fabric

I had a computer crisis at work today. So, in an effort to keep my sanity I left work to go to JoAnn's to find some fabric for the snowflake quilt I'm planning. I found two fabrics with blue background and snowflakes. Then I also found some white silver speckled fabric. I really wasn't planning on going for the glitter, but it really is eye catching. Also, I didn't think I was going to get fabric that already had snowflakes on it, but the pieces to the pattern are so small, that I think it will work well.

I have a couple of quilts that I need to bind before I even start on the snowflake quilt. Here are a couple of the quilts that I have worked on this year.

The neutral and bright lap quilts are sample quilts that I made from classes I used to go to when I was living in Orem.
The baby rag quilt above is for Andy and Rynell's little girl they are expecting (hopefully in less than a week). Rynell gave me the pink and floral flannel fabric that she used for making burp clothes. Then I found the purple and green and came up with the design. I had to really concentrate on getting the squared in the right place so everything would like up properly. I was impressed that I got it right.

Hopefully by the end of this month, or beginning on this month I'll be able to post my Celtic knot quilt.