Muv ... We had a British Bloke work on the farm, and live with us for a year, several years back. And too, his buddies on other farms seemed to make our place their Canadian home, being that there were no kids to tolerate at our place! After picking him up at the airport, our language education started .... he was looking for some Squash before bed? odd I thought, then with some explanation, I "got it"!
JenniKy ... I like W4Me's suggestion ... machine SITD would work well for this pattern. And if you wanted something else, cross hatching on the squares ... or perhaps one straight stitched (machine) star over the group of squares. I'm like you, just learning FMQing, so hesitate doing it, so as not to destroy my piecing work! If you've done smaller machine projects, I think you'd be ready to do it on this one. Your 4th of July Firehall is going to be perfectly fun ... any significance in the family to the fire theme (ie is your DH a fireman?)
SewExS ... good to see you jumping right in with this broody lot!
BTW *nudge* *nudge* for the fabric show and tell!
W4Me .... I'm bad and labels often don't get done. For sure, any quilts, tabletoppers, etc. that I have parted with have not left me til they were labelled.
I have done them by hand with Sharpie markers. Also, have met a lady thru QB who lives near me that has done a few machine embroidered ones. And if I'd ever get around to buying a colour printer, then I'd probably go that route. Though with the lovely machine embroidery work, it's hard to persuade myself to not give her the business .... and save myself the agony! A summer project for me, should be to get caught up in the label department!