Around Memorial Day of this year, I decided to make a red, white, and blue version of my Scrapology pattern!  It was such a fun, scrappy project that I thoroughly enjoyed making!  It was a great way to kick off summer, all the patriotic holidays, and America's 250th birthday!

Let me tell you the backstory about this pattern.  It was originally in my book, Quilt the Rainbow,

which came out in 2022.  (It was the pink quilt.)  

Unfortunately, my publishing company (Martingale Publishing) went out of business about a year later, so I didn't really have a place to send people who wanted the book.  It was such a bummer because I had a very short window to share about the quilts and patterns!  You can still find the book online in a couple of places but I am not associated with those sellers and, sadly, getting nothing from those sales.  So, I am slowly publishing the patterns from the book as stand-alone patterns.  The good news is that I get to add more size options to the stand-alone patterns, which I am really happy about!

This is the throw size but the pattern now includes twin, queen, and king size options!

It's scrap and fat-quarter friendly now, too!  I love that it's so versatile!

I had everything in my stash to make this quilt except the back.

I ended up buying this sweet cream and light blue plaid fabric for the back.  It's from the fabric line, Tails and Threads for Art Gallery Fabrics.  The label is from Ever Emblem.  I get the 2" cotton, fold-over, sew-in labels.  If you go to their site, you'll have to pick a cotton label and customize it from there.  I've loved the ease of these labels.  Now I don't have an excuse to not label my quilts!

My longarm quilter, Jen Ostler, used the Abacus Squared panto.  She did a great job making the design line up perfectly throughout the X blocks. I just love her, she is the best!

When Quilt the Rainbow came out, my friend, Christopher (the Tattooed Quilter), made Scrapology in Christmas fabrics, which you can see HERE.  Ever since then, I knew I wanted to make it in multiple colors!  In May, I just knew they had to be red, white, and blue!  So thank you, Christopher for the inspiration!  I think this pattern would be cute in any colorway, though!  Can you just imagine it in lots of different colors?  I think that would be so fun...and such a great scrap buster!

And guess what, friends, if you make this quilt, you are going to have some cut-offs - so you can make a bonus project!  I decided to make a decorative pillow for my front porch!  But you could make a little wall hanging, a bag, a quilty-vest, whatever your heart desires!

Scrapology is beginner-friendly and a fun make.

If you would like to grab the pattern or want more info, check out these links:

Click HERE for more details about the pillow.

Click HERE for the Scrapology paper pattern.

Click HERE for the Scrapology PDF pattern.

Click HERE to check out my other red, white, and blue quilts.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you found some inspiration here!

Red, White and Blue Half Square Triangle Pillow

Hi friends!  It's me, Amber.  Today I have a fun little project + tutorial to share with you!  It's for this scrappy little pillow I made for my porch!

I used the cut-offs from this quilt (behind me and below).  The quilt is called Scrapology and it's perfect for scraps or fat quarters!  The pattern includes instructions for 4 quilt sizes and it's a really fun, easy make!  You can find more information about that quilt HERE.

Let me tell you how I made the pillow, in case you'd like to make one too someday!

You can take this idea to make any-size quilted pillow you want, and it's a great way to use up cut-offs from other projects!  I'm always looking for ways to put those scraps to good use!

From the Scrapology quilt, I had sets of cut-offs that included 1 light triangle and 1 dark triangle, each.  I sewed each set together along the long edges to create a Half-Square Triangle block and then pressed the seam allowances open.  Then I trimmed each one to 2-1/2" x 2-1/2".  This is a crucial step to make sure you have beautiful points on your Half-Square Triangles.  (Click HERE for a tutorial on how to square up Half-Square Triangles.)

I knew I wanted my pillow to be 16" x 30," so after squaring up my HST's,

I created a layout of 8 x 15 blocks (each HST finished at 2").

Note: I used a 1/4" seam allowance throughout this project.  

I sewed the HST's together in rows and pressed the seam allowances in opposite directions, alternating with each row.  Then I sewed the rows together and pressed the seams in one direction.  Then I had my long-arm quilter, Jen Ostler, quilt it with a 1" grid pattern.  I probably could've done that step on my domestic machine, but I decided to just have Jen do it when she finished quilting my Scrapology quilt.  I just used some cheap Muslin fabric that I had in my stash for the back of the panel (which will end up on the inside of the pillow).

 Note: Jen trims my quilts for me, so she took care of that part.  You'll want to trim all of the excess batting and backing after it's quilted if your quilter doesn't do it for you.

Then I laid the quilted panel on my pillow back fabric (the blue triangle fabric below) with the right sides together and trimmed the pillow back fabric to be the same size as the quilted panel.

Then I pinned the quilted panel and pillow back fabric together with the right sides together.  I marked an 8-10" gap at the bottom to leave as an opening when I sewed around the pillow with a 1/4" seam allowance.  (Normally, I would use a 1/2" seam allowance for this type of project, but I didn't want to cut off any of the points on my HST's.)

Once I sewed around the pillow, leaving an 8-10" opening at the bottom, I trimmed the corners to eliminate bulk.

Then I turned the pillow right-side out.

And used a point turner to carefully push the corners out.

Then I gave the pillow form a nice overall press with a hot iron.

I also pressed the 1/4" seam allowance where I should hand-stitch the opening closed.

Do you see the tiny little star Jen quilted into the panel?  That's her signature move!

She always quilts a hidden object into the quilt.  Makes for a fun little game of hide-and-seek!

Then I filled the pillow with Poly-fil, which you can get at Walmart or Hobby Lobby.  I probably used about one and a half 16 oz. bags. I stuffed my pillow form as full as I could get it.

I like to pin the opening shut at this point just to make sure everything stays aligned properly as I hand stitch the opening shut.

I used coordinating thread and an invisible/blind stitch to hand-sew the opening shut.

(Tip: I did add more stuffing as I was doing this part.)

My stitch is not so invisible as you can see - but that's okay!

It will be on the bottom, so no one will really see it!

This was such a fun little project!

I would love to make more of these smaller, faster projects in the future!

I made it for this bench on my porch (the bench is a lot smaller than I would like)!  I have been on the lookout for a bigger, wooden (maybe church pew-style) bench.

I hope you enjoyed this project!

Let me know if you have any questions or if you found some inspiration here today!

Related links:

For more red, white and blue quilt inspiration, click HERE.

For the Scrapology paper pattern, click HERE.

For the Scrapology PDF pattern, click HERE.

For the red, white and blue Scrapology blog post, click HERE.

For the "How to Square Up Half-Square Triangles" blog post, click HERE.

For more free tutorials, click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

My Red, White, and Blue Quilts

Hey friend.  I've been meaning to share with you all of my 

red, white, and blue quilts - together in one place.  

Hopefully, if you want to make a

patriotic quilt, you'll find some inspiration here!

First up is my Star-Spangled Pineapples quilt.

This is a free pattern that Amanda Niederhauser (@jedicraftgirl) 

and I created for our Five Fat Quarter Fun series several years ago.

HERE is a link to the free PDF pattern and

HERE is a link to the original blog post with more photos and details.

Next up are my beachy, faded Stars and Stripes quilt

and my No-Point Stars quilt.

Both of these patterns are by other quilt pattern designers.

Stars and Stripes is by Camille Roskelly of Thimbleblossoms and it's available

in her shop HERE.  The No-Point Stars pattern is a free tutorial by

Allison Harris of Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  You can find it HERE.

I don't have blog posts up yet about my versions.

I want to share more details so I'll do that soon in another, separate post.

Another red, white, and blue quilt that I made

many years ago is my Scrap Jar Stars quilt.

This is a great stash-buster project!

This pattern comes with instructions for 4 different-sized quilts

and is available in my Etsy shop HERE.

I've also made my United quilt pattern in 2 different color ways.  

It has 50 really simple flag blocks (to represent the 50 states) 

plus 5 stars and a heart block!  It's a fun make and very beginner-friendly!

United finishes at 78-1/2" x 87-1/2".

You can find the pattern in my Etsy shop HERE and

HERE'S a blog post with all the details about the navy one.

You can see the low volume one HERE.

If you're looking for a really simple star/flag quilt

check out my Glory quilt HERE.

I share a free cutting chart & tutorial for Sawtooth

Star block sizes 3" - 20" plus all the details for this quilt.

Another option is a red, white and blue Star Patch quilt!

I've made 3 Star Patch quilts over the years (a colorful one, a red and white one,

and this one).  It was just screaming to be made up in 

red, white and blue, don't you think!?!

Click HERE for the paper pattern.

And for all you scrap lovers out there, I've got a tutorial

for this Firework quilt.  I made a baby-size but it

would be really easy to make it bigger.  A coloring sheet is included.

And if you're in the mood for some simple patchwork,

I've got this red, white, and blue Rough and Tumble quilt pattern.

It comes with instructions for 5 different quilt sizes and is great for beginners!

I think it would be cute to layer any patriotic quilts

with a simple red or blue quilt (like the ones that I made for my book,

Quilt the Rainbow.  Quilt the Rainbow is now out of print but I am slowly working on

releasing the patterns as stand-alone patterns!

This red quilt is called Sew Delightful.  It's fat quarter friendly and can be found HERE.

The blue quilt pattern will hopefully be available later this year.

[Patchwork Plaid.  Photo courtesy of Martingale.]

In 2025, I made this Checkered Spools quilt.

Because why shouldn't I have a spool quilt in red, white and blue haha!?!

It's a 2-1/2" x 42" strip-friendly pattern with 2 size options.

Click HERE for the paper pattern or HERE for the PDF.

And my most recent red, white, and blue quilt is my Scrapology pattern!

Such a fun scrapbuster!  It's scrap and fat quarter friendly and comes with

instructions for 4 quilt sizes!  Grab the paper pattern HERE.

Oh, and I also made a scrappy little pillow out of the Scrapology cut-offs.

Click HERE for the free pillow tutorial.

Am I a little bit obsessed?  Probably!

I just love America and red, white and blue!

Do you have a favorite of the quilts I shared today?

- - -

I hope you found some inspiration here!

Please remember, most of my patterns come in paper and PDF options.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments!

I love hearing from you guys!

Happy Summer!