Red, White, and Blue Around the World

Since it was mentioned in our challenge about how most of the flags in the world have either red, white, or blue in them, I took that as my springboard for this challenge.

Long arming the starting point

It seems weird that this project began with long arming. Usually that's the end point, right?

Just getting going and proving this IS a blue fabric-not black like it shows in some of the other pics

Most of last night was spent doing the what is shown above. We have some very little islands out there in our oceans and some of them were just too darn small to snip around.

Africa is born

I started with one large continent just to boost my motivation. I knew cutting into the fabric around the smaller locations was going to be a challenge and needed something to keep looking at to encourage me.

Once all the discernible locations were cut out, I had to decide what exactly to do with what it was that was created.

Now what to do?

The last thing I need in this house are more wall hangings. Really! I have them hanging in the closets, stored in totes, and hung throughout the house. I slept on it last night, canvassed Katie for suggestions, (who asked her husband), I asked my husband, and came up with this...

A pillow of the world

The oceans are swirl quilted and the continents are quilted around using two layers of top fabric. Then, the upper most fabric was cut away from the fabric below it (which is called reverse appliqué). This will be a gift for my youngest son and his future wife for their new home. They are both history teachers and geography is a big part of what they teach. And, the youngest son is in the military and will probably continue to travel around the world much as he and his bride-to-be have already done.