sewvivor sewalong - fun with flags

the first of four sewvivor sewalong posts is finally here!
when sew-vivor was announced, and the challenges were listed... i was at a loss when it came to nautical.  nothing inspired me.  i didn't want to do sailboats or anchors... because really... what would i do with said quilt after i was done with it?  (happy birthday, baby boy peterson 2.0 perhaps?)  i wandered fabric stores, hoping inspiration would strike... but nothing.  not until i saw a collection of fabric at beverley's titled "bartholo-meow's reef" and loved the subtle nautical-ness of it.  (really... i didn't notice the "meow" part of the title until after i had bought the fabric and went back to get the background print...  ha).  i saw the fabric, but had no clue what to do with it.  i thought hard over what nautical would come to mind, and all that i could think of was a nod to the big bang theory.  sheldon's fun with flags came to mind, so i took the idea and ran with it.  i came across this great tutorial from film in the fridge simply titled "scrappy triangles" that fit the vision perfectly.  let's start off with a little behind the scenes action.
first off, the fabric selection from bartholo-meow's reef.  i picked the prints that were more subtle, but would work well in a scrappy layout without being too busy.  initially i was trying to decide on one of the anchor prints or the other.  but after much surveying (including my sister saying she was useless because she doesn't quilt) it was decided on both anchors to be used, but in separate flags.  i don't think the brown fabric is from the same collection, but it was shelved with the fabric.  i was originally going to go with a solid white or blue, but i'm glad i stumbled across this wood looking fabric to use.  gives it more of a boat-like feel i guess.
i busted the top out quite quickly, and then had to figure out the back.  i almost used the white that i originally purchased for the front, but wasn't in love with it.  i went back to my room to see what i had and sitting on top of my final tub that has yet to be organized, i had a giant blue sheet that perfectly matched the light blue anchors.  i instagrammed a photo of the pinning process, and apparently people were impressed by my over kill of safety pins.  i have a fear of the back shifting... the more pins, the better?  it looks pretty crazy, that's for sure.  and now, on to the final detail photos!
from the original layout, i decided to keep all my flags pointing in the same direction and slightly off set every other row.  this resulted in some rows having 4 full flags, others having 3 flags and 2 halves.  i am quite pleased with the result of it!  to me, it looks like they are really hanging pennants in a row.
the quilting... i am SO THRILLED with this too.  i didn't want to ruin the individuality of each flag, but i also didn't want it to be too blah when you look at it.  i decided to stitch in the ditch around the outside of each flag, and then do a 1" cross hatch following the same angle inside the brown parts.  i am so glad i went with a solid quilting thread instead of the usual variegated threads that i use in my quilts.  it feels much crisper to me, and doesn't detract from the quilt in any way.
the binding i created from that same giant blue sheet i found in my room.  i cut off a few strips, sewed it together, and did the hand sewing in what felt like record time.  probably because it was such a tiny quilt in comparison to others i have done.  i almost didn't "tag" this quilt, because i didn't want to cover the quilting i'm so amazed i pulled off. but to keep with tradition, i placed the tag for this one in the top corner. since i have 10,000 of these tags, i might as well! (ok... maybe not 10,000... but the more i clean & organize my room, the more i find!)
and there you have it folks!
i am super pleased with this quilt.  it only has a few flaws i wish would go away, but that gives it that little bit of charm that most of my quilt have.  i plan to knock out my bag this upcoming week in colorado, so i hope to have that for you to see soon enough :)