Originally Posted by
ckcowl
awwww- don't stress over it all- still plenty of time to decide on sashing fabric--and as you lay out your blocks they will all go together beautifully! if you had one that (screamed) at you- you would have known from the beginning- i new as soon as i finished the blocks---but at the time just put them with the others anyway thinking---i will remake that one before i'm done. (i kind of hoped the Hawaii would grow on me-but it didn't-and hubby didn't like that one either) so---
anyway-if you don't have any yet that you just don't like don't worry about it- they must all be just fine
i've been (tossing around) the idea of embroidering the state name & year it joined the union on each one---jury's still out- & put them in alphabetical order? or in the order of statehood? put them on point? or straight set? so many decisions...every now & then i wish i hadn't decided to use black for all of my backgrounds---but then at the same time am glad i did---some blocks were difficult to figure out (like my horrible failure of Iowa!) it's been quite a journey
i have mine pinned together in rows of 7 with the top block tacked to my sewing room wall - up near the ceiling- side by side- so i am just working on row 6. it's nice to walk by & glance in & see them (hanging around)
some of them seem to 'glow'
anyhow---don't stress over it- it will be fine!
Colleen, I think your quilt be stunning with all black backgrounds. That was my first idea, until I decided to go completely scrappy. With the black backgrounds you won't need sashing, which is good news in itself. They will all "float" as you can see on your design wall.
My "wall" is a flannel sheet attached to coat hangers with clips, hanging on some screws my husband put into the top of our bookcases, which are about 8 feet wide. They are in my sewing room which is a plus. I am thinking of taking the stars down for a while to put up another project I just picked up again (one block wonder). I am building a virtual quilt of the stars in Quilt Pro for Mac, so I can see what it looks like as I go.
I guess I could put another sheet up over the first one for the one block wonder.
As far as embroidery, statehood dates, etc., is concerned, I personally would not bother. I had thought of trying to use fabrics that "represented" each state, and turned out to be impossible. Carol Doak named the blocks after the states because there are 50 and because it would make it easier and more fun to differentiate them than calling them #1 to #50. But the patterns themselves have nothing to do with the States, or with the official State colors. Anyone who looks at these quilts will not say, "oh look, it's the 50 states of the Union".... They will just notice a beautiful collection of stars.
So I hope that helps you. To me, the most important thing will be to put them in an order that is pleasing to the eye. I will need to use sashing for mine, since every one is so different. For that reason, I am going to use only 36 stars in the quilt, and the rest in pillow shams or table toppers. The 50 blocks with sashing would make a bigger quilt that I want.