Star Spangled Liberty ~ My New BOM!!!

Star Spangled Liberty ~ Applique Version ~ BOM program by Pam Buda for Marcus Fabrics

I'm so, so jazzed to finally be able to tell you all about this wonderful new Block of the Month program I've been working on for Marcus Fabrics, called...

Star Spangled Liberty!

I've had just the best time designing the quilt and all the fabrics for my second BOM program.   With all the excitement going on in our nation right now with the upcoming election (good, bad and the crazy!), we're all in tune to setting our country on a new course, showing our red, white and blue pride everywhere.  So, doing what quilters always do during a time like this, we turn to needle and thread to express our feelings.  

There are actually two versions of Star Spangled Liberty....the first one above has an AMERICA applique in the middle of the center row.  This is not a panel.  You will use your favorite method of applique to create this portion of the quilt.  OR.....

Star Spangled Liberty ~ All Pieced version BOM program by Pam Buda for Marcus Fabrics

For those of you for whom applique is a four-letter word, I created an all pieced version of the quilt.  When you sign up for the program, you'll simply choose which version you'd like to make!  Easy, breezy!  Both quilts measure approximately 74 1/2" x 78"

As designers of fabric, quilts and other fun to sew projects, we work months and sometimes more than a year in advance of when you actually get to see what we've been working on.  This quilt was one of those that I've been working on for almost two years.  I designed the quilt with the row concept long before the row by row programs that are running now became popular, so I'm delighted that they've been well received.  

When I was thinking about creating the quilt, I knew I wanted a new and completely different quilter's flag, and I am very jazzed about the flag in this quilt.  I turned it vertically to offset all the rows of stars, which was the second element I really wanted in the quilt.  We all love stars, don't we, and so I wanted lots and lots of star blocks.  

The center row really gave me a place to have fun with creating other patriotic blocks, and there I wanted to create blocks you might find at a Fourth of July parade.  The flag star blocks and patriotic pinwheels fit the bill perfectly, and we see God Bless America banners on parade floats, too. 

This will be a 9 month BOM program, available only through participating quilt shops, so please be sure to ask your favorite quilt shop owner to offer the program.  If you don't ask, they don't know you're interested!  

You'll begin to see a poster in quilt shops offering the program very soon, and the program actually begins in September, 2016.  It was timed this way so you will be completing your quilt in May of 2017, just in time for Memorial day, July 4th, and to display all summer long!!  

I can't resist the opportunity to include some history in my BOM programs, so you can look forward to reading about Betsy Ross, who played an epic role in the birth of our nation.  It truly warms my heart knowing how fabric, needle and thread in the hands of a skilled needlewoman such as Betsy, had such a profound and lasting impact on our nation, and the world.  In every century since her first colonial flag was completed, "Old Glory" is recognized everywhere, by everyone!  

I will also have fun Old Glory flag facts (a nod to Sheldon Cooper!),  The Star Spangled Banner, and Pledge of Allegiance.  Oh, and there will be a bonus project, too.

To say my patriotic fabrics revved my design engine into overdrive would be a gross understatement!!  You can look forward to a brand new trio of Tokens of the Past quilts in a new pattern called Union Forever,  once again made from the Star Spangled Liberty 10 inch precut pack.  

AND....a new patriotic Pocket Patchwork Sew-Along in the near future.  

Next thing for you to do is to click here to check out all of the delicious fabrics I designed for the Star Spangled Liberty collection.  Oh, and while you're browsing the Marcus Fabrics website, do browse around the many other new fabric collections coming to your local quilt shop very soon.  We have been hard at work to bring you new fabrics for your next quilt, or just to keep your stash happy!  

I invite you to keep visiting my blog for more news about my Star Spangled Liberty fabrics, and BOM program.  Now that it has all been introduced, I can begin to post pictures of everything.  Presently, I am piecing the quilts, so watch my Instagram and Facebook pages for sneak peeks of the quilt construction.  

Like Betsy, I hope you find some time to feed your soul with the stitches you sew.  

Thanks so much for reading my blog.  I'd be awful lonely without you!