Dashing Americana

A few weeks ago,  I joined a group of talented quilters to reimagine a traditional quilting block – Churn Dash. It is an uneven nine patch block with half square triangles (HST) in the corners. It was absolutely wonderful to see how each designer took a fresh look at the block. Some completely deconstructed it. Others put it at an angle. Some added elements, like I did. It is really worthwhile looking at these designs. 

I was inspired by the upcoming holiday of July 4th, Independence Day, for my non-US readers. So I decided upon a red, white and blue palette. Then, I thought an oversized block would be great for a table topper or wall hanging. The large blocks are in now 🙂  The solid sides were converted to red and white stripes.

Then, I added white stars to a field of blue. For those of you counting, there are twenty stars. It was not symbolic. It was just what looked good 🙂 Fusible web was added to the back of the white fabric. Once the fabric was fused, it was cut using my Cricut Maker. It was so nice – all of the stars were cut with 30 minutes, much faster than I could by hand. After the stars were cut, they were placed on the blue fabric and fused to it. Then, they were secured with a blanket stitch.

NOTE: The US flag did have 20 stars during 1818, when Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indian, and Mississippi were included as a result of the Flag Act of 1818, which stated a new star would be added for each state. 

The finished block/quilt measures 35-inches square. Now, it is time to get it quilted!

If you are interested in a pattern for Dashing Americana, sign-up to receive our newsletter and receive your free copy in July 2021. (Those already on our mailing list will also receive it). Otherwise, visit our shop to purchase a copy of Dashing Americana.

Happy Quilting!

Laureen