Monday 28 April 2014

March Journal Quilt - United Britain?

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had started the March Journal Quilt. It was all hand stitching, so it was still in progress when I did the April Journal Quilt.

Well, in my bout of finishing last week, I stitched for a whole day and got the rest finished. Each of the coloured sections has a different type of stitch to fill in the shape...like chain stitch, running stitch, couched thread and so on.

Then I layered and quilted it on the machine. (Thank the Lord for Sewing Machines!) A bit of steam and pressing, along with the machine stitch through the flag layers and the wadding and backing helped to get the flag to have less pucker, but it still has that hand-stitched charm.
Well, that is what I am calling it.
and then I bound it. So, that is done and they both will have been uploaded to the group site and the pressure will be off for a bit.

I will try to do May in May, I promise. Emphasis on try. But the deadline for the next four is the end of August. So, a bit of postponing will be permitted if need be for the time being.

Oh yes! Story!
So, as you can see it is a squared version of the Union Jack/British flag.
As you may, or may not know, the Union Jack is a combination of the Cross of St George for England. The Cross of St Patrick for Northern Ireland. And the Cross of St. Andrew for Scotland.

In light of the fact there is a lot of talk (and perhaps action to follow?)of Scotland becoming independent, what will happen with the Union Jack? Okay, it has only been around since near the beginning of the 1800's, but still. So, the blue stitching on some of the triangles wasn't as solid visually as some of the rest of the stitching, so it is sort of a commentary on the idea that the blue (from the St. Andrew flag) fading away. (I made that commentary bit up because I didn't want to fill it all in... or something!)

Furthermore, one thing that has always bothered me is that Wales is not represented on the British Flag. So, I had a look to see if St. David had a flag. And he does. And since I was running out of that red embroidery thread wasn't sure what stitch to use for the red in the middle, I decided to give Wales and St David their moment of glory.

I hope a Certain Young Man who will ultimately receive this will get the story part.

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