Star-Spangled Summer

Celebrate the red, white and blue all summer with this simple, patriotic wall hanging. It’s a great project for scrap use!

SKILL LEVEL

Confident Beginner

FINISHED SIZES

Quilt Size: 24" x 48" Block Size: 24" x 12" Number of Blocks: 1

PROJECT NOTES

Read all instructions before beginning this project.

Stitch right sides together using a ¼" seam allowance unless otherwise specified.

Materials and cutting lists assume 40" of usable fabric width for yardage. WOF – width of fabric

HST – half-square triangle

QST – quarter-square triangle

CUTTING

From dark blue cut:

• 1 (6½") A square

• 2 (37⁄8") B squares

• 8 (3½" x 6½") C rectangles

• 8 (3½") D squares

From off-white cut:

• 2 (37⁄8") E squares

• 20 (3½") F squares

From assorted dark blue scraps cut: • 12 (3½" x 6½") G rectangles

From assorted off-white scraps cut: • 24 (3½") H squares

• 24 (37⁄8") I squares

From assorted red scraps cut:

• 48 (37⁄8") J squares

From blue cut:

• 4 (2½" x WOF) binding strips

COMPLETING THE BLOCK

1. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of all of the E, F & H squares and half of the I & J squares. 2. Place an F square on opposite corners of an A square as shown in Figure 1. Sew on the drawn lines and trim seams to ¼" as shown. Open and press. Make one.

3. Place an F square on the other two corners of the unit in step 2 as shown in Figure 2. Sew on the drawn lines and trim seams to ¼" as shown. Open and press. Make one.

4. Place an F square on the right end of a C rectangle as shown in Figure 3. Stitch on the drawn line and trim seam to ¼". Open and press. Make eight.

5. Place an F square on the left end of the unit from step 4 as shown in Figure 4. Stitch on the drawn line and trim seam to 1/4". Open and press to complete a flying geese unit. Make eight.

6. Stitch a flying geese unit from step 5 to each side of the unit from step 3 as shown in Figure 5. Press. Make one.

7. Stitch a D square to each end of a flying geese unit as shown in Figure 6. Press. Make four.

8. Stitch one unit from step 7 to the top and one to the bottom of the unit from step 6 as shown in Figure 7. This completes the center part of the header. Make 1.

9. Place an E square on a B square as shown in Figure 8. Stitch 1/4" from both sides of the drawn line. Cut on the drawn line as shown. Open and press. Make four HSTs.

10. Stitch an HST from step 9 to each end of the remaining two flying geese units as shown in Figure 9. Press. Make two.

11. Stitch a step 10 unit to the bottom of the remaining step 7 units as shown in Figure 10. Press.

12. Referring to Figure 11, stitch a side unit to each side of the center unit to complete the Star-Spangled block.

COMPLETING THE STRIPES

Flying Geese

1. Place an H square on the right end of a G rectangle as shown in Figure 12. Stitch on the drawn line and trim seam to 1/4" as shown. Open and press. Make 12.

2. Place an H square on the left end of a step 1 unit as shown in Figure 13. Stitch on the drawn line and trim seam to 1/4" as shown. Open and press. Make 12 flying geese units.

3. Referring to the Assembly Diagram, sew the flying geese from step 2 together to make the center stripe. Make one.

Off-white HST

1. Place a marked I square right sides together on an unmarked I square as shown in Figure 14. Stitch 1/4" on each side of drawn line. Cut on the drawn line as shown. Open and press. Make 24 HST units.

2. Referring to the Assembly Diagram, sew 12 HST units from step 1 together to make an off-white stripe, noting the direction of the angled seam lines. Make two.

Red HST

1. Place a marked J square right sides together on an unmarked J square as shown in Figure 15. Stitch 1/4" on each side of drawn line. Cut on the drawn line as shown. Open and press. Make 48 HST units.

2. Referring to the Assembly Diagram, sew 12 HST units from step 1 together to make a red stripe, noting the direction of the angled seam lines. Make four.

COMPLETING THE QUILT

1. Using the Assembly Diagram, lay out the stripes with the seam lines of the three leftmost stripes angling upward to the right, toward the center stripe, and the rightmost three stripes angling upward to the left, toward the center stripe. Sew stripes together to complete the stripe section.

2. Sew the Star-Spangled block to the top of the stripe section as shown. Be sure to have the flying geese pointing towards the header. Press.

3. Layer, quilt as desired and bind referring to Quilting Basics.