feline fanatic

Whenever I am trying to come up with a quilt design I trace a block onto tracing paper. Then I take another piece of tracing paper and put it over my master copy and start auditioning designs. I tried headbands (also known as mussel shells) McTavishing and feathers. Feathers looked the best and how fitting for birds. I realized there was way too much negative space around each bird and all that background fill may overwhelm the embroidery. I wanted the embroidery to be front and center and the eye drawn to that center. The right frame will always do that (draw the eye in). So I drew a 1" frame around the block. I liked that but once I quilted it, I realized it needed more. I have a couple of antique prints made from old daguerrreotypes and the frames have these little balls carved into them all the way around in a very narrow band of the frame. A very old fashioned feel for an old fashioned design. So I did a string of pearls around them with a 1/4" spacing on either side. Like baby bear's porridge, it was just right. Thanks for all the nice comments everyone.