The Bear Flag displays seven colors: Black, Gray, White, and four shades of Brown.

I propose a Boston Commons quilt using this color palette. Let’s expand it a bit, though.

Two Blacks, three Grays, two Whites, and eight Browns should do it.

I joined my baby sister for a weekend quilting workshop some time back. We made a pair of Boston Commons quilts. I want to repeat the process, with improvements.

First, I cut the fabric into 3.5 inch strips and arranged them in order.

Next, I stitched the strips into a blanket.

When we made this quilt before, we used fat quarters cut into strips. The strips were stitched into a blanket, end to end. There was a fair bit of waste at the end of the blankets because the bottom edge was uneven. This time around, I left the strips unstitched for a couple inches at the bottom, and added new strips to the ends before stitching the strips together, creating one continuous blanket.

I picked up the second innovation somewhere on the Internet when I was first studying this pattern and different construction methods. I alternated the direction I pressed the seam allowances (in toward one strip, out on the next).

The blanket is cut into 3.5-inch strips. The strips will be offset before stitching. The alternating seam allowances allow for nesting them together neatly to stitch.