The Birds and the Butterflies

So, I finaaaallllyyy finished my Birds and Butterflies quilt. It was, as I mentioned previously, inspired by Red Pepper Quilts Butterfly Quilt.

Look, no clips! Thank goodness there was no wind!

First I drafted my own butterfly block and paper pieced them using my freezer paper piecing method. The butterflies are all pieced in Lecien's Flower Sugar 2013 collection. I saw it, fell in love with it, and knew immediately that I was going to use it to make this quilt. The bodies are all text prints.

Love these fabrics.

I decided to border the quilt with some improv birds. I made it so at the head and foot of the quilt the birds face the same way, so it doesn't really matter which way it's oriented. They switch direction half-way down each long side. The birds were made with scraps of Butter Sugar, and some coordinating Kaffe Fasset shot cottons. They were all pieced onto a Michael Miller dot.

Birdies. Each one is different - either because of fabric or leg movement. 

Once I finished the top, I saw what a beast it was. 108" by 90". HUGE. I started quilting it in my small Brooklyn apartment, on my old kenmore machine, and I just wasn't feeling it. The quilt kept bashing into the wall and the stitches were all uneven. So, I put it away.

The beast. 

Over a year later, in another state, and with a new machine, I finally took the quilt out again. I wanted to do more than straight lines, but my current motto is 'get 'er done', so I just kept the quilting simple. Horizontal lines through the butterflies, and straight lines through the border, effectively bordering the whole quilt.

On the edge of insanity. Check out those borders!

The quilt is backed in some of my most favorite fabric ever. I fell in love with Anna Marie Horner's Hand Drawn Garden fabric in Social Climber. I started stockpiling it, but in small bursts. A yard here, a yard there. I loved the teal, but bought the gold too, when I found it on sale. I clearly didn't know at the time, but these fabrics were destined for the back of this quilt. Paired with some Joel Dewberry True Colors woodgrain fabric, and the back is just as nice as the front.

The back! Or as I like to call it, the second front. 

The quilt is bound in some more Joel Dewberry True Colors woodgrain. It took me three nights to hand sew the binding down. Hundreds of inches! I was so pleased with this finish. I immediately took it on a photoshoot so I could put it on my bed! I love it and am so glad I finally finished it and am using it! I love so many of the fabrics, and the modern traditionalism of the layout and fabrics. I also thought it would end my fights with the dogs over the covers, but alas, his perchance for sleeping in the middle of the bed makes it impossible to get an even share!

No alligators were hurt in the taking of these pictures. 

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday. 

Finish Along - Q4

Last quarter was my first time participating in the Finish Along hosted by The Littlest Thistle. I completed two of my four goals, which isn't that bad. This quarter I've got a whole bunch more WiPs that I want to knock out. Let's see if being ambitious will pay off!

First up, I'm going to roll over my The Birds and The Butterflies quilting project. I feel like if I can just take the time to mark the lines I'll be able to get that quilt done! Plus, I really want to put it on my bed, it's getting chilly!

Over 400 pins used in basting this bad-boy!

Next up, and this should be a quick finish, I want to finish my herringbone cowl. I started it 2 years ago, and have half a skein left to go. I just need to sit down, watch a few shows and FINISH IT UP! Once again, it's cold, I need it to stay warm!

Here's what the stitch looks like.
I've got plenty of missed stitches/improv sections, it's not all this nice!

I've got a pattern I'm developing for a pillow. So far I'm working through the paper piecing of it. I need to add a border and quilt it up, then turn it into a pillow, likely a wedding gift for my bosses. 

Red Hook. A little busy - hence the motivation to gift it. 

I've got a set of cushions planned for my couch. Just need to finish up a few more of these improv log cabins, piece them together and magically (or not so magically) turn them into cushions. 

Each block is 5.25". Aiming for 18.5" square cushions for 20" inserts.

I've also got a boxy pouch planned for my friend who's a new mom. She can use it for her stuff and match the quilt I made her son, or she can use it for some of his supplies. So far I've just got strips cut and fabric chosen on this one. 

Looks like I need to iron, too!

I'm halfway through my EPP project, which you might have followed along with in my tutorials. I need to make one more panel, and then I can turn them into an eyeglasses case! I'm pleased with how the Arizona fabrics play together here.

70 3/4" hexagons, all ladder stitched together. 

The final goalI've set for myself, I want to get done by Thanksgiving. I attempted to make another Colette Moneta earlier this summer, but that failed miserably. This time I'm going to attempt it on my new-to-me serger, and finish with a double needle on my regular machine. Fingers crossed, otherwise I'll be in a potato sack for the holiday!

Love this AMH knit! Hope I can make it work!

Well, now that I'm feeling overwhelmed I'm going to take a break and work on some bee blocks. So, basically I'll let this list sit and rest for a bit! Wish me luck!

The Birds and the Butterflies - WiP Wednesday

I've linked flickr photos of these previously, but now that I've got this blog going I thought I'd backtrack and put them all together, for posterity's sake.

It started out when I saw Red Pepper Quilts butterfly quilt. I was smitten! I just didn't know what fabric I wanted to use, or how much I wanted to blatantly mimic her quilt. A little while later I saw Lecien's Flower Sugar 2013 (I think), and I knew that was destined to become my butterfly quilt. I drafted up some paper piecing templates and started making 6" finished butterfly blocks. As you can see, I did follow the inspiration fairly closely, with a black background and texty prints for the butterfly bodies.

Proto-block on top of my template. I ended up piecing
using freezer paper so I could reuse the papers. 

First four blocks. 

As I was sewing along I especially liked the polka dot florals. I also saw some adorable birds while on an internet tangent. I traced them back to their block lotto tutorial, and made a couple test birdies. Thus, my border was born!

Every bird is different. Different fabric placement, different legs, different beaks.
Florals are still Flower Sugar, solids are Kaffe Fassett shot cottons.  

So, now I've got the butterflies in the center, a black polka dot border, and birds as my outer border. It's fairly large. Like 108" by 90". And I'm going to attempt to quilt it myself. I've even got it all basted and ready to go. 

It took me all afternoon to baste this beast!

Linking up to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.