My Daughter's Birthday Quilt

Several years ago, a friend of mine gave me her leftover 1 1/2 inch strips that she used to create a 1930's log cabin quilt.  After playing around with them, I created this quilt for my daughter's birthday.  It is an original pattern and I hope you like the pictures!  Perhaps when I get some time, I'll post the pattern here for you!  Let me know if this interests any of my readers.

 For many years, I have admired quilts where simple quilted background designs appear in the muslin or not-pieced areas (I call these the negative space areas).  Although the piecing is the focal point of the quilt, extra effort in the non-focal point areas always added value to the quilt.

At the time, I was new to machine quilting and did not possess the skill to trace a negative space design in the muslin areas, but I knew I could do small scale back-ground fillers around it.  To quilt this project, I first marked the area for the flower negative space design.  I then loaded it on the frame and did loop-the-loops with hearts in the pink borders and patchwork areas and did a small scale stipple in the muslin.  Because I had learned to quilt first using a domestic sewing machine, I took the quilt off the frame.  Then, after changing my domestic sewing machine to it's walking foot, slowly went around the drawn on negative space design.  I was pleased how well it turned out.  The design was able to be followed with perfect accuracy.