Quiltingboard Forums - "frida la Catrina"

I purchased this panel by Alexander Henry recently at a vendor show. I did not want to cut up the fabric, I thought, don't mess with an already great design. I have spent the past couple of days inspired. I have completed the first layer of quilting, the borders and even hand stitched the binding, I am more inclined to machine stitch a binding. I think only another quilter will appreciate the work, up to date. I outlined stitched as much as I could. I used invisible thread on the front and silver/gray on the backside. I plan on thread painting some of the dress with metallic thread. I'm also thinking some bling could not hurt, who knows what rabbit path I will take.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]545608[/ATTACH]
This was the fabric panel designed by Alexander Henry. He calls it frida la Catrina. He uses all lower case letters. It was just too gorgeous to want to cut up and use for applique, but, I just couldn't. I did not want to cut any part of it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]545609[/ATTACH]
Here, I have added a bubble gum pink fabric that has a coarse grain as the border. I accented with a purple mini border. It was then I discovered the background fabric is navy blue, not purple.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]545610[/ATTACH]
It took four hours to outline every flower, heart, dove and skull I encountered. I did some meandering in between. I used invisible thread, as there were so many colors.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]545612[/ATTACH]
The background makes the quilting the star on the backside.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]545613[/ATTACH]
I looked at some post on QB yesterday and was inspired on the border. I know I can definitely improve my technique, but, not too bad for the first time trying something new to me.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]545614[/ATTACH]
The bottom quilting from the backside. I am happy I did the binding by hand.