Patriotic Stars

I have slowly been making small quilts to hang on the front door during certain times of year.  I've been wanting a red, white, and blue quilt for a while.  I decided to use one of my turns as Queen in one of my online bees so I would get a nice, scrappy look.

I knew I wanted a star so I started looking at all the many, many beautiful star blocks out there. The minute I saw the Starry Night block by Cath of Wombat Quilts, I knew it was the one.  It's a free block but I did still get permission from Cath to use it with Bee Inspired.

I knew that I would get more blocks from my bee than I needed for this project, especially with the test blocks I had already made.  So there are some stars that didn't make it in this project.  Those will go into another quilt that will either be donated to Project Linus or Quilts of Valor, depending on how big it ends up being. So, Bee Inspired friends, if you don't see your block here, don't fret!  It will get its moment to shine!

I had a kind of wavey flag fabric that I thought would be good for the back.  I created a label that lists each person whose block is in this quilt, plus their state and country.  I like knowing that I've listed everyone, and it also works as a key to identify who made which block.  I quilted with straight lines following the diagonals of the stars.  The binding is Kona Blueprint. 

I gave people the choice between making a red star with blue accents or a blue star with red accents.  Interestingly, of the eleven blocks I received, only 2 were red stars with blue accents.  I chose one for the center and placed the blue stars with red accents around it, trying to balance darker stars with lighter stars.

I admit, once I made it I struggled with whether to display it on my door.  I'm having a lot of problems feeling patriotic these days, as there is a lot going on in the United States that I am deeply, deeply at odds with.  I worry that being outwardly patriotic somehow means I endorse my current governmental leadership, which is not the case.  But ultimately I decided that I can love the ideals and spirit in my country and feel pride and patriotism in those ideals and in the people, while still being frustrated by decisions made and priorities set by elected and appointed officials.  So it is indeed on the door.

This was #10 on my list of Q2 goals for the Finish Along.