Back in the spring, I saw a Facebook post from Megan Harris looking for someone interested in digitizing and machine embroidering the center block of a special quilt being created for the Maryland State Fair to celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary. I reached out to her, and after chatting for a few days, I agreed to take on the project. Megan would be responsible for the rest of the quilt, including the piecing, quilting, and binding, while I focused on creating the embroidered centerpiece.
I immediately got to work digitizing the design. The finished block was planned to be approximately 2 feet by 2 feet in size. Since I didn’t have a machine capable of stitching something that large in a single hooping, I divided the design into 30 individual tiles. That may sound like a lot, and it certainly was, but there was a method to the madness. Breaking the design into smaller sections meant that if there was an issue with a tile, I would only need to restitch a small portion rather than lose a large section of work.
In late May, I met with Megan to pick up the fabric for the embroidered center block. After cutting out all the tiles, I ironed fusible stabilizer onto the back of each piece and began stitching. As the project progressed, I continued refining and editing the tiles to improve the stitch quality and overall appearance.
This was a huge undertaking for me. While I had previously worked with pre-designed tiled embroidery scenes from OESD, I had never created one completely from scratch. To say I am proud of the finished center block would be an understatement. Looking back, there are definitely things I would do differently, but overall I am extremely pleased with how it turned out.
The center block alone consisted of an incredible 1,438,657 stitches. It required approximately 50 hours of digitizing and another 60 hours of stitching. I completed it in time to deliver it to Megan on July 4th.
I’ll be honest, it was difficult to hand it over after investing so much time and effort into the project. However, seeing the completed quilt made it all worthwhile. Megan’s finished quilt is absolutely stunning, and being part of such a meaningful and commemorative piece for the Maryland State Fair is something I never would have imagined when I first responded to her Facebook post.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being part of this incredible journey.