As you may recall, last week I spent some time creating a little red, white and blue magic in the form of a paper-pieced mini heart. As Memorial Day approaches (and with the 4th of July holiday not far off), I decided that it’s time to take down the Shamrock quilt in my pays-the-bills office. I love my green quilt but it — and the  Mardi-gras beads that are hanging with it– is starting to burn into my eyeballs. Time for a change of scenery.

Making a patriotic quilt has been on my radar for a while, but I’ve been struggling to find the right modern-ish pattern. While perusing an old Oprah magazine, I spied an advertisement that jumped off the page. It screamed “QUILT” in my face. Inspiration is kind of rude sometimes.

I stole away from home this weekend to find a jelly roll that would support my vision. At Material Rewards I found a set of 24 two and half inch strips by Jennifer Pugh. The collection is called Colors of Freedom for Wilmington Prints and it has a vintage-y vibe, but without the cloying trite designs that sometimes decorate patriotic fabric lines. I snatched up Ms. Pugh’s packet (last one) and then bought a yard of creamy fabric for the stripes and a couple of fat quarters for the blue fields of stars.

There were not enough reds in the jelly roll pack to bring my vision to reality, but I’ve found some items in my stash to supplement. I had to make some of the reds into longer strips, but hey, I’m a scrappy kind of girl, so I’m making it work.

I arranged the strips on top of my neutral design afghan to get a feel for what the final product might look like.

This pattern is going to slide together very quickly. In just a half hour, about 1/3 of the top was completed.

Thank you Anderson Newton Design for Oprah magazine advertisement that served as my inspiration. I salute you.