Stars with Stripes For Me.

I bought some fabulous navy blue fabric with white stars.  I I've been wanting to make a door hanging and thought these stars would make for something fun for Flag day and the Fourth of July.

I cut out 3.5 inch stripes from the navy fabric.  Then I made a nine patch block from two different kinds of red material.  I sewed the elements together and was quite pleased with the look.

To quilt this door hanging, I decided I would try my hand at free-motion quilting.  I've done it in a class, I've tried it on my new machine, but had never really done it before.  How can a girl learn to do something, if she doesn't try?  (You don't have to answer it, it was sort of rhetorical...)

This was my attempt. This looks pretty good.  Then I got a little cocky and kept at it.  There was no place to put the needle and I panicked.  You can't see that here...if you look at other pictures, you'll see what I mean.

I decided to sew in the ditch for the starry stripes.  I added a red border and machine stitched the binding.  What?  Yes, I did.  I consider this a learning experience...and I wanted to learn what a machine binding was like... It's just as bad as everyone says it is.  But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I learned how to add tabs on the back for hanging.  So, the thing I learned with that exercise is the tab should go on before the binding.  That's okay, this is a learning experience.

I could count the number of things that are wrong with this finished project.  Instead I'm going to count the things I did right.  I love it.  I think it's a fun design...it's my design.  If I were to show you the back, you'd be horrified.  But that's a lesson for another project.  Enjoy.  I am.