By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador

Fourth of July is almost here and it’s time to enjoy some patriotic quilts.

We begin with the mother of all patriotic quilts, America, Let It Shine by Sherry Reynolds from Laramie, Wyoming. This quilt won numerous prestigious awards about six years ago, including Best of Show at International Quilt Festival in Houston.

The quilt is filled with symbolism. Fifty gold stars represent the 50 states and encircle the center compass. The border units have 13 blue spikes and 13 red triangles to represent the 13 original colonies.

There are 5121 crystals on the quilt: 4543 for the words of the Constitution, 312 for the Star-Spangled Banner, 31 for the Pledge of Allegiance and 235 for the age of the country when Reynolds made the quilt.

The words to part of the Gettysburg Address, the Preamble to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are quilted into the piece.

On the quilt sleeve, Reynolds included the words to the Lee Greenwood song Proud to be an American.

The back doesn’t look too shabby, either. It’s interesting that Sherry quilted this piece on a domestic sewing machine that she says is “nothing fancy.”

At the other end of the spectrum is a throw-size quilt I designed recently for Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting. This is Indivisible. I started it during a work day that my local guild had specifically to make quilts for veterans.

All I did that day was make some scrappy stars. Later at home, I auditioned the red and white striped fabric and thought maybe the idea had potential. I quilted it myself with wavy lines to suggest a flag billowing in the breeze. Find the pattern in the July/August 2019 issue of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting, on newsstands now.

Here’s a great free quilt pattern from Andover by Janet Miller in fabrics from Renee Nanneman, one of the nicest designers you’ll ever meet. It’s called the Windsocks quilt; the fabric line is Fireworks. I love this design’s graphic simplicity.

Hurrah is another freebie from Andover. Candy Hargrove designed and made this quilt with Jo Morton fabrics. I like how the stars are grouped in fours and I think it’s an effective design.

I really like Scrap Jar Stars from Amber at Gigi’s Thimble. It’s great in red-white-and-blue but you’ll see from her post that it makes a great scrappy quilt in a rainbow of colors as well.

Remember that the Quilts of Valor website has many free quilt patterns such as A Tribute to Yoda, above, by Lisa Sutherland.

My friend Anne Wiens at Sweetgrass and other brand ambassadors for Island Batik are hosting a Quilts of Valor blog hop this week. One of the Day 1 hosts was Denise Looney at fortheloveofgeese.com, and if her quilt is any indication of the quality to come, watch out!

Here’s the other Day 1 quilt, Beth’s Star, by Becca Fenstermaker of Pretty Piney Quilts. It was quilted by Crystal Smith. Beth’s Star is a pattern for sale.

I found the free Heart of Paris by Wendy Sheppard on the Windham Fabrics website. It’s easily adaptable for a USA focus if that’s what you prefer.

I wish you a safe and happy Independence Day and I ask you to remember that our freedom here in the United States of America is a precious gift, for which a high price was paid.