Trinidad and England Flag Quilt

Some good friends of mine were getting married, and naturally I wanted to make them a quilt as a wedding present.  Both of these friends were born in other countries, so I decided to make them a flag quilt featuring flags of their home nations.

One side is the flag of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad.

The other side is the flag of England.  

FYI:  The flag of England (St. George's Cross) is different from the flag of the United Kingdom (the Union Jack).

Once all the research was done on the correct proportions, the flags were very easy to piece.  I was going to do straight line quilting, but I couldn't think of a design that would compliment both sides.  So I settled on a meandering stitch/stippling.  I practiced on 3 or 4 quilt sandwiches before tackling the flag quilt.  I think it turned out nicely considering it was my first time free motion quilting.  It is so much faster than straight line quilting!

Here is a close-up shot of the quilting.

Here is a close-up of the quilt label.  To label this quilt, I used a this tutorial, but wrote on the fabric with permanent fabric ink instead of disappearing ink and embroidery.

It was difficult to choose a fabric for the binding what would compliment both sides of the quilt.  Ultimately, I chose a tan color that doesn't stand out from either side of the quilt. I think it's perfect!

It's a small lap size quilt (3' by 5') but they should still be able to get some snuggles underneath it.  It also looks perfect at the foot of a bed or hung up on a wall, and maybe to wrap around a little one at some point in the future!

August Meeting Recap!

Happy end-of-summer!  We had a lot of fun at the August meeting, with lots of great giveaways!  Here is a quick recap of the meeting:


1.  We discussed the chicken block swap and enjoyed looking at all the different chicken variations.  We will turn them into a quilt to donate to Project Linus.

Chickens galore!

2.  We discussed our quilting "favorite things."  We had everything from a great Ikea design board, to a little stiletto, to fabric.  It was great sharing our finds and favorites with each other!

Ikea design board.

3.  We had a huge giveaway, thanks to the Warm and Natural Company's free gift box for our guild!  We discussed their wonderful batting products and gave away lots of exciting items.  We also had a giveaway of holiday-related fabric donated from Project Linus and lots of magazines donated from members.  It was a giveaway bonanza!

Freebie box from the Warm and Natural Company!

5.  We decided to make a group quilt, which we will submit to QuiltCon for consideration into their show!


There is still plenty of time to make a block (due at the October meeting), and the results should be great!  Click HERE for instructions. 

Fabric for the Group Quilt.

6.  Quilt News and Events:
--The Boca Raton Museum of Art will be hosting a show called "Politics Not as Usual:  Quilts with Something to Say," starting in September!  See below for our tour info.
--The Gold Coast Guild is hosting a contemporary quilt show at the Highland Beach library from August 1st to October 26th!
--Quiltcon (the Modern Quilt Guild's first convention) will be hosting a quilt show in February. 
--StitchCraft is hosting its Summer Sewing Challenge!  The completed entries will be on display at the store for the next few weeks.  Vote for your favorite and enjoy the creativity of our local quilters!
--Quilters are donating quilts to aid and comfort forest fire victims in the Western US.  General guidelines are: adults 72x80 inches, children 60x70 inches, and babies 45 inches square.  The quilts are being mailed out by the end of October.  If you're interested, email me for more information.

7.  We discussed the Round Robin quilt and the Bee Blocks for August.  Love the colors!

Round Robin Quilt - Top completed!

August Bee blocks!

8.  We discussed the new Pinterest board for the South Florida Modern Quilt Guild, which you can find here:  http://pinterest.com/patchworkduck/south-florida-modern-quilt-guild-projects-and-insp/

9.  In lieu of "Things to Bring" for September, we are just making our QuiltCon group quilt blocks.  Feel free to also bring in show and tell!

SEPTEMBER MEETING REMINDER:  We look forward to seeing everyone at the abbreviated September meeting, on Saturday, September 22nd from 11am to 12pm!  Please note the time and date variation!

Directly afterward, we will meet at the Boca Raton Museum of Art (about 1 mile away) for a tour of the new quilt exhibit at 12:15pm!  Non-members and quilt-friendly family/friends are welcome to join us for the tour!


If we have 15 people or more, we have discounted admission ($4) and a docent-led tour.  If we have under 15 people, we have regular admission and a fun self-guided tour.  Come one, come all!



October Meeting:  Save the date for Saturday, October 20th!  We will have a very talented long-arm quilter guest speak about the ins-and-outs of longarm quilting.

Show-and-tell:  As a final wrap-up, here are some great August show and tell photos!