Flag Day

Yesterday I taught Flag Day as a class at Quilted Works here in St. George, Utah.

Flag Day is a pattern by Buggy Barn, and even though it's been out for a few years, it's the kind of design that seems timeless.

In this class I teach the Buggy Barn technique, which once learned can be applied to many of their other books and patterns.

I love the BB technique, where you stack fat quarters, cut out the design and then start moving certain sections to the bottom of the pile.

The instructions are clear, easy to follow, and many of the strict quilting rules go out the door.

It can be quite a freeing experience, as you chop off some pieces, and eyeball joining certain seams.

I encourage my students bring a large cardboard box to keep their stacked pieces together in a uniform sections.

Putting the blocks together can be somewhat of a mystery. Once you've done the shifting of pieces, you really don't know what fabrics will match up with what fabrics.

For me it feels like putting together a jig saw puzzle where you can hardly wait to see what the next part will look like.

The original pattern has you piece your own flags out of red, white and blue.

I opted instead to substitute flag-type fabrics, and shared some of my "stash" with the students.

One student commented that she felt a little like Betsy Ross.

Ta-dum! Chris was the first to finish a block.

Flag Day can be found in the book Gone Crazy.