Memorial Day in quilt form

It's Memorial Day weekend. We need to remember those who have served in our military forces and many who have lost their lives while serving. My father and father-in-law were in World War II, and my brother served in the Army during the Vietnam era. I have my father's flag that was draped on his coffin when he died. The patriotic theme of decorating is very close to many peoples hearts. So, finding quilt fabrics with this theme is relatively easy, and there is quite a good selection.

My friend Sharon asked me if I would make a quilt for their church in Steelville to use as a raffle item for their summer fundraiser. I told her, "Sure!" and sought out fabrics for the project. I used this simple quilt pattern called "Jelly Roll Race" where you sew jelly roll strips together to form a long strip, then begin sewing the strip together, matching the ends and sewing the two strips together. Once you have done that, you cut that strip in half, sew those together, making a two strip wide piece grow to a 4 strip wide piece, which is half as long. You keep doing this until you have 32 rows of strips. It is a quick and easy pattern, and turns out very colorful and "scrappy" looking when you are finished.

Here is a picture of the different fabrics that are in the jelly roll race quilt, close up.

I always make pillowcases for my quilts, so here are the finished pillow cases for this quilt. I think I love these! I may look for more fabric so I can make some of these that I can keep.

I found this awesome flag fabric for the backing, and it was really inexpensive. Often the backing ends up costing more than the actual quilt, because you need a lot of fabric to use in it. Hope they all like it and that they make a lot of money on their raffle. Happy Memorial Day!