Ellen Maurer-Stroh is my favorite cross stitch designer. Her work is amazing and you have done justice to her design. I once quilted a group project with cross stitch designs just like yours. If you quilt only the sashing, the cross stitch may pop out more than you wish. I did a medium size meandering allover with a neutral color, just going slightly over the cross stitched areas to tame then down. Cross stitch is beautiful but when used in a quilt it takes a life on it own and is up to you to keep it under control. You can also do some echo quilting around the animal babies, or while keeping it well held, maybe by basting spray you can do straight lines around it. Start with a stitch in the ditch and move in with lines about 1/2 inch apart. Do maybe two or three lines in. You can then quilt the sashing any way you want.

Carla Barrett has some swirly designs that would be perfect in the sashings and maybe you could use a batting that doesn't require close quilting so you don't have to do anything within the cross-stitched blocks. If not, maybe just a simple circle around the embroidery in each.
http://featheredfibers.files.wordpre...d-berries1.jpg
http://featheredfibers.files.wordpre...nd-sashing.jpg

Beautiful!!!

Oh my.. that is stunning. We have some talented and creative quilters in here and I would talk with those who have had similar experience.. but I must say.. that is a breathtaking piece.

I think it would look good framed with a narrow border of your light fabric and finish with a wider border of the dark from the back. Here's an example of what I mean (different colors of course, but you get the idea).

I also would quilt just in your sashing to highlight the beautifully embroidered squares.

What a treasure you've created.

What a gorgeous quilt!

The cross stitch pieces are 9" square. I put a 4 1/2" med purple sash and a 4 1/2" square in each corner. Would like to incorporte a heart pattern in the light squares sewn with dark purple thread? Being new to the process of quilting I am not sure it will look right or how to go about it. I have just done one other quilt and it was the one for my sister with breast cancer and all I did there was stitch in the ditch. When I said that I was NEW to quilting I really meant as in no experience whatsoever in quilting, I would appreciate any help at all. I really want to make this quilt special for Cheyanne.

Absolutely beautiful!!

I've seen some quilters showcase the detail (i.e., your embroidery) using small stippling in the white area. Then they'd do a vine pattern or some such in the sashing. Good luck!

Beautiful!

Because it is hand cross-stitch, I would want to hand quilt it. Would outline quilt around each cross-stitch picture about 1/4-inch away; also 1/4" away from each border. Maybe cross-hatch quilt the background in each square.

I am very ignorant on quilting. what is cross-hatch? What color thread would you use to hand quilt the cross stitch pieces? The backing fabric is a solid dark purple.

I know to the experienced quilter these are stupid questions. I'm sorry in advance.