Union Jack Quilt Finished

 My first big finish of 2018: the Union Jack quilt!  I am so excited to have this long-term WIP completed- I started it almost three years ago.  It's probably the biggest quilt I have ever made, measuring 98" x 116"!  Finding a way to photograph it without it dragging on the ground was a challenge- so my husband agreed to help me with a roof picture. 

My initial motivation to make this quilt were two simple factors: It is very easy paper piecing that I wanted to try and I loved how large scale prints could be showcased in the flag blocks.  I do not have a significant love or affinity for England.  I had a full day layover there once and that's about it- I'll admit that I am not really that excited about this quilt overall; it turned out how I wanted but it doesn't have that "wow" factor for me personally.

The pattern for this quilt came from issue #8 of Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, Lynne Goldsworthy is the author of the pattern. 

To back this quilt, I unearthed a very long-ago purchase of Joel Dewberry Heirloom fabrics.  I love Joel's work and fabrics, but I don't tend to grab them first, as an exciting addition to my projects.  I'm often trying to to use what's in my stash, even though the colors don't coordinate perfectly with the front.   

I bound the quilt in a Patty Sloniger Bakeshop fabric.  I quilted the quilt myself on my longarm- a process that easily took over 10 hours.  I thought I might do some twirly-swirly stuff in each of the flags, but decided my FMQ skills weren't good enough, I didn't have all of the right color threads to make it tone on tone, the width of my longarm quilting space isn't large enough to accommodate the vertical rectangles in the center of the flags, and I really just wanted the quilt finished sooner than later.  I felt a little guilty about not being more intricate with the quilting but the truth is that I don't love this quilt SO much that I want to spend hours and hours finishing it- I got the three layers together and didn't resort to simple stippling, which makes me happy.  It's done and that's what matters.

Thanks for reading!  This post shows that I actually completed my January goal via the "One Monthly Goal" initiative by Elm Street Quilts- thanks for the motivation Patty!  Also linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

One Monthly Goal: Finish the Union Jack quilt in January 2018

After participating in the Bag-It event at Elm Street Quilts, I have learned about the One Monthly Goal initiative and I am in!  I simply have to make a goal at the beginning of the month and try to accomplish it at the end of the month- and document my intentions/results.

After quilting the snails quilt, I put the Union Jack quilt right onto my longarm.  And it's been there for maybe a month?!  I am scared, I don't know what type of free motion quilting to do in the borders!  But I've got to get going on it, as there will be other things to load onto the longarm soon enough and loading a quilt onto a longarm frame is not something you want to do more than once for the same quilt.  I just need to myself that "finished is better than perfect," right?!

I haven't done well in documenting this quilt, but it's been a WIP for quite a while and finishing the quilt top a few months ago felt like a major accomplishment.  I hope to share a finished quilt at the end of the month!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts at the January linkup.