This is what I probably would do...but the arrangement with the rows of 5's and 4's also sounds like a good possibility.

http://www.embroiderydesigns.name/ca...eatured&page=1

This site has two pages of patriotic designs and many other pages, too. You might find something you like there. You might add a vine or floral branch to some of these to coordinate with your state quilt blocks.

I made this quilt for my daughter and put the Minnesota block on the top row with the background fabric across the rest of the row and the other 49 blocks 7 blocks by 7 blocks and it worked out really nice.

Look at the field of stars on the US Flag.....rows of 5 stars alternating with rows of 4 stars....maybe that will help.

OOPS! I just saw your latest photo. Looks like you've got it figured out....yayyyy!! Very pretty!

6 5 6 5 6 5 6 5 6 makes a wider and not such a long quilt (same principle, of course), but is still 3 rows longer than it is wide, which seems a bit much.

This may belabor the point a bit, but if you include Washington DC and the five territories (Guam, Marianas, US Virgin Islands, Samoa, and Puerto Rico), you'd have 56, so you could make it 7 x 8. Or you could leave off Alaska and Hawaii, so you'd have 48, and use them to make pillow shams. Or stagger them, as the stars on the flag are (although you'd have to rotate it 90 degrees, so it would be a bit longer than it is wide).

My mother made a state bird quilt for me. Instead of doing sashing, we used solid blocks to fill in between (like a checker board) That works out even for 50 birds. Five birds, four solid blocks the same size in the first row; Four birds, five solid blocks in row 2, etc. I think on state bird quilts she made with sashing, she put 8 rows of 6 birds in the center of the quilt and the two "leftover" birds in the bottom corners of the wide borders.

this is how my mom pieced it. she hand pieced it and hand embroidered it she did it about 15 years ago before she got Alzheimer's. She passed away almost 3years ago. I am now hand quilting it. I loved seeing the other quilts pic's mom did red white and blue she was born July 3 1920

you could do the 7 x 7 and the state you are from could be in its own row highlighted by a nice border?

this is a great solution!