The Bicentennial
I know this is not a Bicentennial piece but it’s a patriotic quilt I did in 2011 with my P&B fabric line called Tribute. A whole group of designers made quilts that went on a tour and then were donated to Veterans.
Download at https://patsloanquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pat-sloan-valor-final-pattern.pdf
I am working on this Liberty piece. I’m actually on the bottom of the ‘b’ right now and have done half of the red bunting. I have found the letters a challenge to keep track of, so I’m doing them first to get it over with, haha! Do you do that with projects?
—– Liberty XS: https://tidd.ly/4fnHZsF The one on the left is ‘Cherished Friends’ that a lot of us are doing together. Find it at https://tidd.ly/4sYg1Yq. I’m adding in some yellow.
Back to the Bicentennial! I graduated high school in June of 1976 in Brussels, Belgium, at the Department of Defense (DOD) School there. The whole time we lived in Belgium we had no English-speaking TV channels. Our only English language news came from the Armed Forces radio and paper (the Stars and Stripes).
What is interesting to me is that I really ‘missed’ the Bicentennial. I don’t remember any fanfare leading up to it or on that day. Maybe it had to do with being a high school senior, or limited ways to get information. Of course, the Belgians were not celebrating, and we did not live on a base, so it was just whatever our school did to discuss it. And I don’t remember any discussion.
So this year I decided to do two cross stitch projects. One is a kit that I will start on July 4th. (I’ll show you the kit when it arrives). The other is this Liberty one I’m doing to have done by July 4th.
—I did contribute to the Virginia Quilt book for celebrating the 250th anniversary. It is called ‘Stitching Together History’, you can find it at the Virginia Quilt Museum where your purchase supports the museum. My piece will be on exhibit starting soon! https://www.vaquiltmuseum.org/shop-online-store
How are you celebrating our 250th anniversary?
—Get your patriotic shirts, mugs, yard flags, etc., from my merch store at https://kdspain.com/sloanzone.
Remember, I won’t write every week. Sometimes I just don’t have anything I feel like writing about. When I do, I’ll drop a note to you! HUGS!
If you missed my last 2 videos see below
(All links are in the pinned comment of the video on my YouTube channel. Substack makes some of them weird, so I’m not bothering here.)
I also graduated in 1976. I was a member of the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps. That year the finals were held in Philadelphia.
I was excited about celebrating this year but am slowly losing the anticipation.
Love the quilt pattern. I also graduated in 1976. Some at the high school wanted us to wear graduation gowns filled with the signatures of those who signed the Declaration of Independence. Needless to say - that did not win out:)