"Redwork" by Machine?

I figured out what I wanted in the centre block of the St Nikolas preschool quilt, but I didn't trust myself to mark it and handstitch (though I've done well before).  So I tried to be inventive.  Here's what I did.  I wanted to stitch the phrase "my school friends and me" in German.  So first I called our cousins to ask for advice on that.   ; )  Translated:  "meine schulfreunde und ich".  So I wrote that up in a blank word document, set the font and size how I wanted it, and copied it onto tracing paper!

 

Then I cut out the words and taped them into position on the quilt top.  Using a triple stitch and red thread, I slowly stitched it out.  I stitched VERY slowly, since there was a lot of pivoting.

 

The paper is so thin that it just tore away so easily.  I like it!

There's the top of the centre block.  And here is the bottom! 

Now back to basting and a lot of stray threads to clean up.  As I'm doing it, the vision of some very pretty quilting is coming to mind. 

ps - The preschool teacher asked me how many hours it takes to make a quilt.  I had no answer for her.  I was dumbfounded.  It's all I do, so I cannot imagine timing it.  Have any of you actually calculated that?  And do you count in the hours spent "reverse sewing" ?  (Pippa Moore taught me that word.)  On this quilt so far, there are about three hours of that! LOL   

~Monika