The flag quilt is "sandwiched"..   bottom layer is backing, middle is batting, and then pieced top.  I used black batting because the navy fabric is not woven really really tight and I was afraid that white batting would "beard" through the blue.  I was concerned about having black batting under the blue sky, but that fabric is very tightly woven, so it doesn't show through.   To sandwich a quilt:  all pieces are ironed and clean.  The bottom layer is tightly taped to the floor (I used blue painters tape) wrong side up, the batting is placed on top of that, and then the pieced top is the top layer, right side up.  Everything is pinned together about 3" between each pin (the size of your fist).

Now it's ready to quilt.  Quilting is done from the inside out to avoid wrinkles and tucks.  The flag was quilted with monofiliment thread about 1/8" from the flag edge all around.  Narrow borders were quilted using stitch in the ditch and navy cotton thread.  the sky was stippled quilted mimicking the clouds

This is the first time doing free motion quilting with my  Bernina, and I like how the Bernina handles so much better than my Pfaff.  I just need to quilt the borders (I'm thinking stars using navy thread), trim, bind (using the gold that I used for the pole), label, and add sleeve to back.  I'm on the home stretch.