Seeing as today was the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in London, England, I thought that it would be appropriate to unveil my latest quilt. Do you recognize the pattern?

As you probably know, the British flag is known as the “Union Jack.”As shown below, the Union Jack famously blends the Scottish, Irish and English flags to reflect their Union in the United Kingdom.

Like the American flag, the Union Jack is red, white and blue. The back side of my Union Jack quilt has 3 primary stripes: red, white and blue. The blue and red stripes have a map of London in the fabric, and the white stripe has London’s famous black taxis and red double decker buses in a pattern on the fabric.

As a child I remember going to my grandparents’ house for the weekend. They would ask me which bedroom I would like to stay in: the “one with the birds?” Or the “blue room.”

As a tribute to my grandparents, my husband and I decided that as each of our children left home, we would theme their old bedrooms in preparation for grandchildren.

Our family has lived in 3 places: England, Alaska and Utah. As the bedrooms come available, we work to decorate a room to each of these three locales.

Again, in honor of the opening of the 2012 Olympics in London, this article focuses on the England room.

Below are some pictures of the room:

 

Of course we had to include an Official 2012 London Olympics key ring:

And no England themed room would be complete without the obligatory “Mini.”

And for sentimental reason, one of my favourite (note the British spelling) finishing touches of the England room is this gray pillow or cushion with iconic London images. This pillow was given to my by my 88-year old English grandfather when he came to visit us.

By the way, my husband loves the fact that when granddad — and every other guest for that matter — visit, they all fight to stay in the ALASKA room.