My Patriotic Quilt (Quilt #6 for 2026)

You may remember that I wanted to make a Patriotic Quilt this year to celebrate our country's 250th birthday.  I started this quilt on June 3 and finished it up this week, just in time for the 4th of July!

The pattern that I picked out was Stardust, a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.  It was easy to follow and fun to make.

Some of the fabrics are from the Old Glory fabric line by Lella Boutique.  I especially love the red one with the flowers.  :)

Thankfully I have some fabrics left over to make another project.  Isn't that the story of my life?  I might made another quilt with some of the same colors to coordinate with this one.

I had seen this line of fabrics on Facebook and wanted to get some of these for my quilt. While I was on my Shop Hop, I happily found some of them at a local store.  I added in a couple of other colors to complete the look that I was going for.

Starting out, I found the pattern easy to make, as long as you label the squares!  Most of the quilt is made with half-square triangles and whole squares, in all different sizes.  Thankfully I had a new set of Alpha Clippies to help me out.  

Here is a pic of the starburst before I put on the border.  You can see the size of it with my chair in the photo.  I think it's about 60" square, which makes a nice throw.

In this photo I am free motion quilting it on my sit-down longarm.  Because it wasn't too big, I finished it in a couple of days.  

The color of the medium blue is more to it's true color in this photo.  I made a quick journey to Hobby Lobby and found a very nice dark blue fabric with ships on it for the back.  

All in all, it turned out so nicely.  And it's actually done - yay!

 

Valley in Bloom

I thought that our current Stampin Up catalog is one of the best that I have seen.  On page 22, there is a beautiful stamp set with papers that highlight the lily of the valley.  I had a great time playing around with this suite and made 6 pretty cards.

For my first card, I cut into a sheet of the designer paper, which is so amazing.  The rest of the card is just cut outs from the set.  I brushed a little bit of teal onto the white flowers to give them some dimension.  I got the idea for this card from Mary Deatherage.

My next card idea is from Angela Meiritz Reid.  I love the teal colored designer paper in this pack.  This is a simple and beautiful card.  For the background I used an older die called Stitched Greenery.  I like the look of it on this card.

 

The next two cards I call the "twins."  They are mirror image cards made with a sheet of designer paper that you punch a circle hole in the center and then slice it down the middle.  Keep one half for one card, and the other half for the second card.  Cute, right?  I got the idea from someone but can't find her post.

This yellow paper also comes in the designer pack.  I love this card.  It might be the black frame around the scalloped square that ties it all together.  And the little lily of the valley image is just the right size to be placed in a shaped focal point.  I could make this card all day.

Last is this sweet pink and green card.  I die cut a circle in the white cardstock and adhered it using dimensionals to give the front of the card a lift.  I love the cut out leaves and the simplicity of this card.  I saw the idea on Facebook from Laura Seki.

I'm so glad that I got this set.  It makes simple, easy and beautiful cards.  What do you think?