April Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

76.5 x 85.5

Butterfly quilt top

I made the blocks over a period of years as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I saw a vintage version of this and loved it so decided to make one for myself. 

The block is otherwise referred to as a Beggar Block. 

I'm not normally a border person or a sashing person.  I prefer to make LOTS of blocks instead. BUT sometimes a quilt just needs some sashing and/or a border. I should have used cornerstones instead of one long piece of sashing between rows. I think you can see why. 

Anyway...it's a quilt top and now I have to piece together some batting scraps, find a backing and decide how to quilt it - hand or machine? and what motif? 

The Happy Place

I am low on donation quilts plus I need a quilt to try out free motion quilting on my new sewing machine so I dug into my Happy Place. I used to use keep a bunch of 6.5 inch centers in different themes cut up and then I would surround them with 2.5 inch scraps whenever I had them.  These are usually referred to as Happy Blocks. 

I pulled out a pile of Butterfly Happies and sorted them into colors, trimmed them up and... 

...made a 50 x 50 Butterfly Happy Quilt top in the purples, blues and oranges I found in the Butterfly Happy pile.   

Again, I need to piece together some batting, find a backing and then quilt it and it will be ready for the donation pile.   I think I will quilt it with a flower motif. I'm a little nervous trying FMQ on my new DSM but I'll get through it.. 

I always try to stay caught up on my 4 inch waste triangle butterfly blocks.  All these brown ones are scraps from the making of my recent Velveteen Rabbit quilt.  I'm almost out of scraps to use for the blue backgrounds so not sure what I'll use next. 

And finally I started TWO new butterfly quilts based on the free quilt pattern Ghost Moth. 

The top one uses some pieces leftover from the Butterfly Kaleidoscope quilt I'm working on (but haven't worked on in March) and a floral background.  The second one will have crumb butterflies on a gray butterfly background. The second one is a new project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I have a butterfly quilt in the hoop right now but I'll wait until Slow Stitching Sunday to show you that one. 

Did you know a group of butterflies is called a Kaleidoscope? How appropriate. 

And in regard to real butterflies around here...it's too cold for them now.  But stay tuned to this space as it gets warmer.  That's a Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) sticking up out of those fabric scraps I used as mulch.  It's one of five I started from seed last spring and planted last fall.  I used to have a lot of them but over the years they have all died or disappeared so last year I started more for the flower gardens.  They are supposed to be deer resistant; however, I swear with my own eyes I've seen deer munching on them.  When I used to have Butterfly Bushes they were always covered with butterflies.  Hopefully I'll see a kaleidoscope or two of butterflies soon!

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