This started on a whim with a desire to make seven “something’s” in a specific set of colors. “Something” morphed into butterflies, using the lovely paper piecing patterns from lillyella stitchery.
Paper piecing is not a particular skill of mine. I love the finished results from skilled sewers, but the waste of fabric, paper, and mental gymnastics makes this a rare project for me. I’ve made these butterflies at least twice, maybe three times, over the years. This time, I was pleased to finally understand how to trim and size my pieces to keep waste and restitching to a minimum.
The Assistant and Spunky helped me choose colors for each butterfly based on my requirements. This is a silly but subtle not to my current favorite band, BTS. Each of them have a particular color of microphone they use for performances. At some point, my enthusiasm for their music will wane, and I wanted the quilt to be something I would still enjoy regardless. Butterflies also carry meaning for the group.
Once the seven butterflies were complete, the next challenge became the setting. I finally organized them with the leader on top and two columns in age order of the members. The pieced butterflies were added next with scraps from the strips I cut for paper piecing. The pink ones fade into the background, but that’s okay. It makes it interesting in person.
For quilting, I originally thought maybe I’d stitch in the ditch and leave it at that, but the Assistant, who also listens to BTS, suggested hearts, which are imagery from several of their albums. I make rough hearts, but as this is for me and not a show piece, I’ll consider it good practice. My basting left something to be desired, so there are a few bulges. Again, it’s for me and I like it, and I learned.
The binding gave us fits. While the Jack in the Box quilt was very clear about what it wanted as I arrived at each step in the creative process, this quilt was a bit more demure in her demands. Rather than being clear on what she wanted, she was clear on what was the wrong choice. We pulled out stacks and stacks of fabrics to find an appropriate binding. The final decision is leftovers from a quilt, Back to Square One, that I made in 2013-2014 with Vicki Welsh and Judy Laquidara.
The quilt finished about 18” by 34”.
from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z.
1 comment:
What a cute quilt! Thanks for the Back to Square One memories. I loved making that quilt and I gave it to the woman who cleans my house. She loved it. I have another quilt planned specifically for her and I need to get on with it.
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