Good luck with designing your own pattern. I am not good at that part of quilting. I can search for sampler quilts and copy what others have done, even though I might not like every block in the quilt. Nancy Zieman had a pretty Sampler last year. Hers is done in reds and whites. This quilt would be pretty in any single tone color. I prefer blues or reds.
http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/quil...-of-the-month/ And the good news is that it is free and a large 15 inch block.