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....

Which Witch is complete

I felt like I was going to die if I didnt drop everything and play with some thread.  I am so excited about this project.  Its a pattern I bought at the quilt show in houston by crazyoldladies.blogspot.com. its called WhichWitch.  I am so excited to play with scraps.  I love applique, its like coloring without the crayons.

Using the leftover pieces to make the border and  a hanger sleeve

Close up view

Extreme closeup view, my first attempt at my own stipple design (It's supposed to be little witch hats)

The finished quilt.

The quilt label

Although I am not a huge orange and purple fan, this quilt was so stinkin' cute that I had to make a mini-verison for myself before I sent the big one off to my sister.  This measures about 16 inches x 16 inches, and I took this shot because it made me laugh.  Putting that top row on upside down was just the funniest thing.  Lucky for me corrections were very easy to do!