Union Jack Attack

Since our dad passed away Heather and I have both been wanting to keep his memory alive.  We talk about him, think about him and our hearts ache for him.  I'm consumed with sadness missing my dad.  It is so so hard.  I still cannot believe it's real.

One thing in missing him is doing something about it.  Writing his story and memories have been on my mind but I still find it too hard to do.  I've written in a notebook a lot but it brings me down.  I just have to try and balance it all I guess.  I've also wanted something tangible of him, just to have him with me always.  I have a couple of his hats, shirts and sweatshirts I wear often.  I love those.

My mom was able to part with a good amount of his clothing.  She said seeing it in the closet made her so sad and she wanted us all to have things.  There are 7 of us kids.  My brothers each have hats and jackets from my dad.  Heather and I also received some of my dad's dress shirts so we could make our own memory quilts.  He is from England so it is really neat to have an image that represents him.  In his office he had a lot of Union Jack things.  We also made him a Union Jack quilt for Father's Day a couple years ago.  Here is my progress so far.

The only block in this set that has my dad's shirt is the plaid blue/gray.  I couldn't wait to get started so I made two blocks before I had his shirts.  The rest of my blocks will contain his shirts.

I laid all his shirts in the middle and on each side I started piling different whites, reds/pinks and blues that coordinated.

This one below, which doesn't contain any of his shirts, is so sweet to me.  I ordered a couple of these prints specifically for this project.  The crowns (from Sarah Jane's "Let's Pretend" line) were the perfect royal blue and exactly what I wanted in a Union Jack quilt.  And the hearts...of course were perfect.

These pictures are all from my phone so some quality is better than others.  I really love the white flowers in this block (from Tasha Noel's "Simple Life").  I really like the stripes too except where they meet in the middle. Hopefully that won't bother me in the big picture.

And the block with my daddy.

I quite enjoy making these. They don't make me sad just really happy with each finished block. I have other things going on so I try to sneak in some paper pieceing here and there.

Speaking of which this is a free paper pieced pattern from traceyjay quilts that I found on Craftsy.  I searched quite a bit online, different tutorials and patterns to find the exact Union Jack I wanted. I wanted a bigger block (many are much smaller) this is 12 x 18.  Also on the diagonal pieces I like where they are thin on one side and thick on the other.  Just looks more like the real flag.

Thank you for taking time to stop by the blog today and for reading about me and my dad. :)