I'm right down to the wire on posting these Block of the Month patterns but wanted to finish all 24 blocks of the Midget Mania blocks first. It was fun picking out new Midget Blocks and I printed off foundations to do some sewing myself.

Finding the hidden stitches in this months Beyond The Cherry Trees block has been so much fun and there's been a lot of them to find.

This is one sorry looking quilt block. As you can see there isn't much left of it. The original green fabric has not only turned brown, it's falling apart too.




It was a surprise to find that the background fabric had been pieced to make the piece of fabric large enough. It made me wonder if that's why the quilter put so much effort into the quilting on this particular block.




There are twelve quilting designs within this single block! How cool is that? I never know what I'm going to find when I start searching for the designs hidden in the stitching.




There are two flowers quilted within the flower pot and an arc on each side down near the bottom.




These designs extend over the seam line into the block above.




These are on the lower right side of the block next to the flower pot.




Did you ever wonder how I go about finding these designs? This flower on the upper left side will give you a little bit of an idea. I know all of the background is quilted in a clamshell design the size of a quarter which measures about 14/16", okay a little less than 1 inch.
Believe me, that 2/16" wouldn't make a difference to me. I can't imagine quilting clamshells that small across the background of a quilt this size! I've gotton so that I can look past the little clamshells until I see stitching going in another direction. Sometimes I can tell what the design is but other times I have no idea until I start restitching the original in a darker thread. There are times, like with the flower in the picture above, where I'm not quite sure if the two clamshells at the bottom are an added design element for the flower or just the beginning of a new area of background quilting so I guess.




These are on the lower left of the block and just cross over the seam line into the block next to it.




You can get this month's Beyond The Cherry Trees block HERE
and
Sally Post Floral Sampler block HERE