Layout the 7 Block Strips in the following order.
Place the second strip onto the first strip with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge.
Then Place the third strip onto the now sewn together first and second strips with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge. Continue in this process adding one strip at a time until you have stitched all the strips together.
Press the seams downwards towards the yellow strip. You will now have a block that is 24 1/2" X 24 1/2" unfinished and you can set it aside while we turn to working on the applique.
Piecing the Texas Applique
First up, we need to piece three fabrics together for the Applique. Layout the Blue Rectangle, and White and Red squares as shown.
Place the White square onto the Red square with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge and then press towards the Red square.
Now place the pieced Red/White Square onto the Blue Rectangle with Right Sides together. The squares will be slightly larger than the rectangle so just center the overlap. It won't matter that they don't match up as we will be cutting the applique from this piece. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge and then Press towards the Blue rectangle.
Making the Texas Applique
NOTE - I will be walking through all the applique steps, but if you are new to applique, you might find my Applique Basics Video Tutorial helpful as well.
You can find them here. Just surf down past the finishing the quilts basics videos.
And with your Applique unit Pieced, you are now ready to make the Texas Applique. So to do this, we need to first make the template. Start by trimming the left hand template side right along the Vertical plus mark as shown. This will make it easier to align your two template pieces.
Align the plus marks of the two templates and tape the two together. Then cut out the template using a pair of paper scissors :)
Now cut a 16" x 16" piece of HeatNBond (I like the Lite for applique). *Note, there is a typo in the instructions, it says 6 x 6 but you need 16 x 16. Trace the template onto the paper side of the HeatN Bond with the template reversed as shown.
Now you will align the Heat N Bond transfer onto the Pieced Applique Unit. When Aligning, there are a few things to make sure you have right. First, you want to align the Wrong Side of the Pieced Appliue Unit to the Adhesive Side of the HeadNBond. Make sure the White, Blue, and Red pieces are opposite your final layout as shown. Finally, be sure that the Seam Line between the white and blue is aligned with the Vertical Line as shown. And be sure it is the actual seam line, not the pressed edge. You should be able to feel the bump to match it up.
Once you are all aligned, move to the ironing board and press the HeatNBond to the Pieced Applique Unit with a dry iron. Using a dry iron makes it easier to remove the paper later. Make sure you are fully adhered by double checking the edges.
Now using a pair of fabric scissors, cut out the Texas Applique.
Now remove the paper backing from the Texas Applique. Also, if you haven't already, cut out the Star Applique, you should only need to clip the notches, and remove the paper backing.
Attaching the Applique to Block
And now, it's time to grab that Stripped Block and your Texas and Star Appliques and move to the ironing board. Align your Texas Applique onto the Stripped block centering it on the block. It should be 4" in from either side and the top of the Texas will be just barely onto the Lime Green Stripe and just barely touching the Yellow Stripe at the bottom. Then place your Star Applique onto the Blue part of the rectangle, just above the intersection of the Red and White pieces. Be sure your star point is in the top center.
Then press both appliques with a dry iron. Again, I like to double check with my fingers around the edges, just to make sure it is fully secured.
And all that is left is to secure stitch your applique to your block. I choose to use a light tan color but you can use any color thread you like. When secure stitching, it is best to use Needle Down option on your machine if you have it and you can choose from several stitches ie, blanket stitch, zig-zag, or straight stitch.
Stitch around the entire Texas Applique using desired secure stitch. I like to backstitch 1-2 stitches at the beginning and the end of my stitching just to secure it.
And don't forget to secure stitch the Star Applique as well.
And with that, you are done and you have a beautiful 24 1/2" x 24 1/2 unfinished Center Texas Applique Block. Isn't it just so pretty!!!
