Me, Quilt Designer!

So I had this idea

I have become "that" woman, you know, the one you see at Walmart with the state flag of Texas on her purse.  And dangling from the holes in her ears.  I don't know how that happened.  I remember when we moved to Texas, I asked my new neighbor, who happened to be a native Texan what it was with everyone from Texas, do they really believe they are superior to those who live in the other 49 states??

She just looked at me and said "yes".  I remember rolling my eyes.

figuring out how it was going to work...

Fast forward 17 short years, and here I am, using the state flag of Texas as home decor.  Do people in other states decorate with their flag?  Or is it because Texas state flag is so awesome?? I mean I have never seen a "Utah" room, (Although I have seen an "Arizona" room, but I'm pretty sure that is code for indoor porch type room).  

choosing my fabrics

  I truly have been obsessing with this idea for months now.  I can't explain it, I just have a NEED to make a quilt with the Texas flag on  it.  And eat fine mexican food.  Which ironically enough is not necessarily found in Texas...personally my favorite mexican food is Sonoran style, made famous in Tucson Arizona.  Oh dang, I am distracted....

Cutting all my fabric into 2.5 x 6 inch strips.  24 of each

I decided to make a "quilt as you go" style quilt.  The thing is I have a fabulous embroidery machine, and I have absolutely no need to be fulfilled as a seamstress by hand quilting anything, so I designed this to be made with the embroidery machine, and then assembled with the sewing machine.

After the strips were ready, I assembled each square into a "split rail" design, being sure to rotate where each fabric landed in the squares (also know as OCD sewing)

This whole project just pops when pressing each step of the way.  I love how crisp it looks when pressed correctly.

the tools of the trade...

So now I have all my rail fence squares done, they measure 6 x 6.  I cut my backing pieces 8 x 10 so I had enough room to use the fast frames.

finding the center of my backing

 

using the fold and finger press method, I folded my pieces in half, both directions

then I used the marking pen to mark the center of the inside of the backing

now i'll be able to place my needle of the embroidery machine right where it needs to be

using the binder clips, attach to the fast frame.

the first thing to run on the embroidery machine is an outline stitch.  This is the size of my square after all the trimming and folding is complete.   So it's right at 6 inches.

Place the cut batting on top of the outline

place the split rail square on top of the batting

using my own stippling design, I made this stinkin' cute block.  Look close, it's a star and stripes design.
On the actual quilt, the stripes change directions every other square.

This is easier to see the stipple design.  

The finished quilt

close of of all 3 colors... notice the change of direction in the strips...very OCD

the star was made by using a freezer paper appliqué, attached with a blanket stitch.

another closeup

Momma always did say to sign your work....

This is what I do instead of clean my house...

My entryway is now sporting a brand spanking new wall quilt.  What a joy this project was.  This was one of the projects that my sister and I bought last year at the Houston Quilt Show.  This was "we can't come back unless we finish at least one of the projects we spent money on this year" quilt.  It's a quilt-as-you-go by Prairie Sky Quilting.  This one is named "Easy Diamonds Quilt"  Being the OCD woman who likes to play with big machines, I converted the pattern into an 'in the hoop' project on my embroidery machine.  I can't really say how long it took, as real life gets in the way of what I really want to do in my sewing room. (That would be laundry and feeding my family)  I bought the fabric in January, I cut the pieces in April and have slowly put it together since then.  I highly recommend this quilt pattern company, the designs are fairly easy to assemble and lots of fun.