I made a wall hanging similar to what you want to do. Half of the blocks were machine embroidered native designs and half plain blocks. To make the embroidered blocks I cut my fabric at 10" square and cut to size after embroidering. After the top was finished I sandwiched and quilted it with a basic SITD around all of the blocks and then did a machine embroidered feather wreath in the plain blocks.
Cari