Quilt Crackers, of the patriotic sort

I recently needed a wedding shower gift and
could not think of a single quilt pattern that
was 1) fitting for the bride-to-be, and 2) quick.
(Oh, I knew the shower was coming, and I could have made this gift eons ago,
but I like to think I work better under pressure :)

SO, me being me, and on the perpetual time-crunch,
I remembered that I had recently come across
the block pattern called Crackers
from the early 1900's, that I just loved.
Though the 'cracker' reference is probably
from the staple of flour-crackers sent to soldiers during wartime,
I liked the patriotic spin of 'firecracker'
so I made the vintage block in red, white, & blue.

Here's the finish, ready to head to the shower:

The table topper, unfurled:

It measured about 34" by 42" after washing.

the 'Crackers' block

I quilted with a variegated (King Tut) red/white/blue thread
on my Sashiko machine.

and here's the back:

(I always like to look at the quilting from the back of a quilt.
Do you also?)

Here's my pattern for

my Patriotic Firecrackers:

2 1/2 inch by 6 1/2 inch strips, and

5 inch squares cut in half diagonally for the corners (these are a little over-sized for squaring up).

(I do pre-starch (Best Press-unscented is my fav!) all my fabric pieces that are going to be cut on the bias, so there is less stretch apt to happen when piecing.)

I made my blocks all from scraps, with about 15 different cream fabrics and 12 or so each of the blue and red fabrics.  Though scrappy, I did still keep each block of the red/cream strip-sets with blue corners, and all the blue/cream strip-sets with red corners.  I think if you wanted, you could really mix it up and have a beauty of a quilt.
Pretty, simple, and a great stash-buster!!

I LOVE how it turned out, 
and so did the Bride-to-be.
Now I want to make another for myself!
Maybe I can squeeze it in right before the wedding quilt?? :)

Happy Stitching!

more meandering aka quilting

Jean made this great table topper:

and I got to quilt it!

She did a wonderful job - no splaying corners in her log house :).

It finished about 42 inches square

and I used the Sashiko machine to quilt

each "log" in the cabin and the two borders. 

This is the quilt pattern and kit that made me think I needed this particular quilt for my bed/size and made to summer weight.  Hasn't happened yet, but it's still in the back of my mind.  AND I certainly have the stash to use, so it may just happen yet.