Linda is a woman in the DC area that makes flag quilts each year for the wounded solders at Walter Reed Hospital. She along with other volunteers make about 100 quilts a year and then deliver 23-30 quilts at a time to the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed for Christmas, Memorial Day, July 4th and Veteran's Day. The quilts are backed in muslin so that those who made it can write notes to the solder.
Before I go on I have to say that when my husband spent 6 weeks at Walter Reed (taking a class) he commented many times about how many young solders he saw with their families and how seriously injured they were. These young men literally sacrificed their health and limbs for our country and their lives are forever changed. This is just a small way to tell them and their family that we appreciate their sacrifice and service.
What a great opportunity to make one of these flags as a family and teach your kids about our America, service and of course sewing. If you are a teacher you could take the flag to your class and have all the kids sign it. If you are LDS, this is a great project for the Young Women or Activity days. You could do this as a service project with your quilt group.
Once you have completed your flag(s), please email a photo to theblockexchage@yahoo.com, and I will email you Linda's address to mail the quilt to. Please attach a paper with your name and address to each quilt so she can mail you a photo of the solder that received your quilt along with any other information. I will be posting the photos of the quilts you email me on this blog.
If you do not have any sewing material and need to purchase everything (fabric, thread, batting ect) and nothing is on sale, it will cost about $22.00 to make. Joanns and Handcocks always have sales and coupons so it will probably be less then $22.
Directions for American Flag Quilt for Wounded Soldiers, finished size approx. 41" x 57"
Fabric requirements:
Red 1/2 yard Cut 7 - 2 inch strips
White 1/2 yard Cut 6 - 2 inch strips
Dark Blue Stars 1/3 yard Cut one rectangle 11" x 15 3/4"
Inner Border (Brown) 1/2 yard Cut 3 - 3 1/2" strips
Corner Posts (Gold) 1/4 yard Cut 4 - 3 1/2" squares
Outer Border (Blue) 1 yard Cut 4 - 8" strips
Binding (Gold) 1/3 yard Cut 6 - 2" strips
Backing One piece of muslin washed and cut to 44" x 60"
Batting Warm and natural cotton cut to approx. 44" x 60" or at least 2" larger on each
side of the finished quilt top.
Piecing
Sew 3 red 2" strips and 3 white 2"strips to each other, alternating colors and press. Cut this strip set to be 36 3/4" wide. Sew remaining 7 white and red strips together, beginning with red and alternating white and ending with red. Press. Sew dark blue star rectangle to this strip set and press. Cut the extra red and white strips so the blue stars and red and white stripes measures 36 3/4" wide. Sew this strip set to the top of the striped set and press. Flag should measure 19 1/2" high x 36 3/4" wide.
Measure your flag quilt and then trim 2 of your inner border strips to be 1/2" longer than the width of your flag and then cut 2 pieces each measuring 1/2" longer than the height of your flag. Sew 2 or your corner posts to each end of your shorter inner border strips and press. Sew longer inner border strips to top and bottom of flag and press. Then sew 2 shorter border strips with posts to the sides of the quilt and press.
Measure your flag with the inner border and strips and use the same process to cut and attach the wider outer border strips to the quilt.
Layer the backing, batting and top together and machine or hand quilt. Sew binding strips together and sew binding to quilt.
November 11th is Veteran day, It would be great if we could all have our quilts mailed to Linda by November 1st. If that's too fast for you then try to get it to her by December 15th so they can deliver them for Christmas.
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