From sea to shining sea: The Big US Quilt

You would think that after the afghan debacle, that I would be off blankets forever. Just the opposite--I just completed designing my FIRST quilt pattern

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I didn't design all of the elements, but I am taking two great projects by fabulous designers and putting my own spin on them. 

The first element is a DIY United States quilt kit designed by Haptic Lab. I received it as a birthday gift two years ago, but having been waiting for the perfect project to use it. 

Second is the awesome 50 States Stitching Club by my favorite embroidery designer, Mollie Johanson at Wild Olive. The club is little more than halfway done, so I definitely have some catching up to do! I am up for the challenge, though.

Here's the plan: I will stitch up all 50 of the state motifs and applique them onto a fabric from Spoonflower that evokes the theme of the motif. Then I will use the same fabric on the map and will applique the state. Leftover fabric will become the sashing on the quilt top. 

Today, after printing the backlog of patterns, I measured out some squares of plain fabric to stitch onto. Then, I transferred all of the patterns onto the fabric and started to work.

Isn't Connecticut so cute? It is the state flower, the mountain laurel. Does anyone have a line on where I can find some fabric with mountain laurel on it? What else typifies CT?