As we work hard to get our grass mowed and our flower beds in order for spring, it is fun to add various accents to enhance our hard work.  I have some large rocks in my beds, around which will be planted some low to the ground but colorful flowers.  I also have some ferns that have totally filled an area around one of the trees in my front yard.  Although the ferns are lovely and present a very relaxing look to the front of my home, it just seemed to me that other color was needed.  This, naturally, sparked my creative mind and off I went to the fabric store.

I located the nylon flag making material at my fabric store down the street.  Purchasing a yard of each color they had, along with a bottle of No Fray, I headed home.  Next I scanned through a number of coloring books from my daughter’s childhood to find nice sized creations to put on my flags.  I selected a couple of birds, some insects, and a variety of flower shapes.  I decided that the two sides of the flags would be identical as I mastered my skills on this project.  I used a pretty light blue as my base color and cut out a rectangle that was 13 inches by 18 inches.  I applied the No Fray solution to all the edges as soon as they were cut.  I set aside the base flag and picked up some green to create a slightly curved effect for the bottom to resemble a hill or grassy area.  There were two matching green grass areas cut as these would be back-to-back on the flag.  I decided for a fun effect I would use waterproof fabric paints for the bumble bee.   I also cut out two puffy clouds to keep the bee company on the flag.

With all my materials ready and all nylon fabric edges covered with the No Fray solution, I turned under the edges of both clouds and pinned them onto the flag.  The green grassy hills were the next attachment for sewing.  The satin stitch on my machine did a very nice job of covering all the edges of the cloud and green grassy hill.  All edges of the flag base were now turned under twice and stitched.  The top was folded over an inch and stitched to form the slot for the flag to slide onto the holder.  The last step was creating the bumble bee. She was traced onto the flag in a prominent location.  One side of the flag was created as the flag lay on some wax paper.  Once fully dry I simply turned the flag over and painted the little rascal going in the opposite direction.  It really was fun creating my own yard flag and I have since created several more to give as gifts and sell during my various craft shows.  Have fun with this idea.