Birthday Banner

I'm enjoying decorating my front door with various seasonal/holiday quilts.  I've been wanting to add a birthday quilt and with two family birthdays in October, this seemed like a good time of year to do it. I finished it in time to hang on the door for my son's birthday, and we took it to park for his party, too, and hung it at picnic shelter.

The letters were cut with my AccuQuilt alphabet die.  The pattern for the cake came from a magazine, Quiltmaker's All-Time favorites.  The cake was even on the cover!  If you look closely at he picture, you'll see that this is from Fall 2000.  Yup, I've had this pattern 18 years!

I quilted the diagonal grid before adding any of the applique.  I didn't want the lines to go through the cake or the letters, but I didn't think that just the applique would be enough quilting.

the background before adding the applique

For the back, I used some fat quarters and scraps given to me by a friend's mom.  I went to visit my college friend Jen over Labor Day weekend, and when discussing the details before my trip, Jen asked if I'd have extra room in my car.  It was just me and Fire Monkey for 2 nights so we wouldn't have much stuff with us and I didn't understand why I'd need room in the car.  Until she told me she had 2 big boxes of stuff for me from her mom!  Apparently her mom, a life-long crafter, is realizing she won't use all her craft supplies in her lifetime so she's getting rid of stuff that she is likely not to use.  Both Jen and her mom are primarily knitters and her dad is a rug-hooker, so that means that I (as essentially an adopted daughter) got a TON of fabric and other sewing supplies.  A lot were coordinated fat quarter sets and you'll start seeing projects from them soon, I hope.  For this backing, I picked out 2 fat quarters that were unlikely to be used in other projects, as both were mottled almost-solids, plus a feather print that is a civil war reproduction--not my normal style, but I loved the color. 

Those of you who are regular readers know I track the Kona solids that I use.  I used a lot of scraps in this one! The background is Dove.  The cake is Highlight with Citrus on top and Camilla icing, Algeria candles, and Papaya flames.  The letters, in spelling order, are: Tomato, Niagara, Cerise, Leprechaun, Punch, Mediteranean, Parakeet, Torch, Jade Green, Gumdrop, Cabbage, Honeysuckle, and Jamaica.  The binding is Storm.  

I love knowing I can hang this on our door for birthdays!