Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! *a little early* I won't be posting for a few days, due to a hectic schedule, so I thought I'd put this in slightly early.

Here is my favorite patriotic quilt "Hometown USA". This was made in 1998 for a quilt guild Log Cabin challenge. I used a Country Threads pattern from a book that is now out of print. This is actually half-size from the pattern, and it exactly fit the size requirement of the challenge. (How lucky is that??)

I had fun picking out all the fabrics. I had to tea-dye some of the white ones to get them to blend. I think that works better than tea-dying the entire quilt - that tends to lessen the contrast too much, in my opinion - especially since so many of the fabrics were already tan-ish. I left a few white fabrics for sparkle.

These little logs finish at 1/2 inch! No, it's not paper-pieced. It really wasn't that hard. Some of them might be a little wonky, but once it's all put together, you can't tell. I had a lot of fun making this one.

Here's some of the row of houses. All the doors, windows and chimneys are done with fusible.

The little flag is actually two blocks the same size as the log cabins. I can't believe I actually went to a copy shop to reduce the star pattern! I wouldn't be doing that now!

Here's some daisies in my backyard. They were standing up until they got rained on the other night. These flowers are all over right now, and it's so nice to see them all in the ditches and the fields. Very cheery.

And these are some foxglove in my back yard. These are also wildflowers here - they are everywhere! There's a big stand of them out near the highway, and they're in all the ditches and along all the fences. And they are mostly all this color of purple, although I have seen a few white ones. I used to struggle to grow these in California, because it was too dry there for them, I guess. Seeing these everywhere makes me happy! And, for you Californians, the poppies are just going good here. (they were in their prime in late March in CA!)

I hope everyone has a happy 4th! See ya next week!