Oops! I Forgot To Share This Finish

I realized I hadn't shared my Butterfly quilt I finished way back in August.

This quilt was started a long time ago, back in 2010 with Amy over at Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts blog.

It started from a photo in a Japanese magazine and then became ALL the rage

here in blogland.
You can make one too, just click on Amy's link I provided above for her tutorial.

There are no 2 fabrics alike in this quilt, using ALL florals.   The brown I used for the butterfly background is a medium shade brown…..NOT the chocolate brown the photos show it.

Cloudy skies made photo taking difficult.

My butterflies are Wonky and kind of odd shaped…..on purpose of course!

I hand quilted it using the good ole standard Baptist Fan design.  Not knowing at the time I chose this
quilting design that it would give the butterflies GREAT MOVEMENT.  I can almost see their
little wings fluttering around all those flowers!!

Of course the backing  had to be floral too……right?
I did struggle with the binding FOR MONTHS!!  I hauled this quilt around with me to
every quilt shop I came across!
I dug dug dug in my stash……UNTIL I just finally decided to bind it with the same
backing fabric!
Yes, it works……why oh why do I make things so hard?!

I just gotta have it the way I gotta have it!!!

Measures 69" x 61"

Soooo, here it is!  This was the best photo I could get….of about 50 taken!
( well, it SEEMED like 50 )

The size of this quilt was determined by when I ran out of the brown background fabric for the butterflies.  In fact, there are a few brown backgrounds that are pieced, just
so I could get an even amount of blocks.

In person, this quilt is VERY light and soft looking.  It's EXACTLY the look and feel I was going for.  The photos do it NO JUSTICE.

No scraps were used or harmed during the making of this quilt.  Only fresh new fat quarters
were cut...coming straight from MY STASH!!!  LOL!

SEE YA'LL NEXT YEAR!!

Shifting Gears

WHOA, what a difference there is between BIG STITCH HAND QUILTING and just

plain ole REGULAR HAND QUILTING.

Shifting my gears back to the older UFO quilt in the hoop I had been hand quilting on

BEFORE 

I started the BIG STITCH quilting on the quilt I just finished (previous post)

was a little frustrating!!

Looking and searching the top to see WHERE oh WHERE did I leave off??

Switching out BIG STITCH tools/thread and supplies to REGULAR hand quilting "stuff and thingies"

I use this sweet little vintage bowl to house the items I need handy.

The little silver shiny container is where I throw my cut off threads and any chocolate candy

wrappers there might be!

A block I had already quilted.  These photos make my quilting look kind of wobbly!

LOL, well, maybe my quilting IS a little wobbly after BIG STITCHING!!

This TOP was started in the spring of 2008 from a Bonnie Hunter pattern.
I've tried working on UFO's this year and have made some progress on the 30 something tops I have hanging in the closet.

THE SECRET IS to STOP making new tops before finishing some of your older ones!! HA!

Like that's gonna happen!!!!

A supply of threaded needles ready to go.

Maybe I'm all set to SHIFT those gears and get back to the hand quilting I know best!

BUT THEN AGAIN……this top, which is all pin basted and ready to be machine quilted is 

CALLING MY NAME!!

hhhmmmm…...it would be a faster finish than the one I have in the hoop…….

Another Bonnie Hunter pattern.

A Finish!

I slow stitched on this Sunday all the way to the finish line!

HAPPY DANCE!!

Isn't it just too WILD?!!  I haven't enhanced this photo, it really is this bright and colorful in person.

I didn't quilt this one too heavy and this was my first time at BIG STITCHING.

Choosing concentric circles in each square.

Border quilting

Another block closeup.

The back.

This quilt is one I sewed 4 1/2 yrs. ago using inspiration from a Gwen Marston book I have.
One day I basted the top and then there it sat.  How should I quilt it?
I'm so glad the BIG STITCH thought came to me and I could finally get on with it.

Hubby says it is HIS and NO I can't give it away!
I said " not even for one of your great grand children coming in Feb?"

He still said "NO!"

It measures 48" x 60".

One Word Wednesday

Butterfly

Clam Shell Quilt Update

Hand quilting has been the order of the day/week/month around here.

As you can see I'm getting closer to being finished.  I have made MORE progress since this photo was taken.....

YIPPEE!!!

Hand Quilting

QUIETLY

S-L-O-W-L-Y

QUILTING

My Fall Quilt Festival Quilt

Here is my selection for Amy's Fall Quilt Festival. This is a Quiltville pattern...Chunky Churndash I made back in 2008/2009. I soooo love the scrappiness of it. I guess scrappy quilts are just about my favorite. The whole quilt was sewn with 'stash' scraps and yardage. The navy blue fabric is about 25 yrs. old, leftover from some curtains w-a-y back in the 80's when 'country blues' were all the rage. Was I ever glad to finally find a use for it.

I am a die hard hand quilter!!! I find it so relaxing and find the 'dip and dot' look most appealing .....but yes, I have machine quilted some of my other quilts and still plan on doing more. Hand quilting is time consuming and I'm already pretty behind on my finished tops.

I chose to hand quilt concentric circles for this one. I measured to find the center and just drew myself a 2 inch circle and went from there. I think my circles are about 1 1/2 inches apart. Don't you just love this photo of the back. I love it best 'cause it's finished!!!!
Now run on over to Amy's blog and check out the rest of the fabulous quilts. Blogger won't let me link from Amy's name above so just go to my sidebar and click on the Festival Button and it will take you right there.

Mini Quilt

COLOR........COLOR........COLOR...........that is what I was aiming for in this mini house quilt. I really think I accomplished that don't you!! I soooo wanted to use some of my new Kaffee fabric and I found some perfect pieces to go together.

I sooooo loved this piece....but....it too was sent off as a gift. I surprised my friend Gail (no blog) with this little 'thank you'. She has been so generous to me in this last year, sending all kinds of fabrics/books and quilting magazines she wanted to pass along as she sorts and cleans out her sewing 'pit'.

How cheery is this with all these snowy/icy/dreary cloudy days we have been having! Gail lives in Michigan and think maybe she had to pull out the ole sunglasses when this arrived...HA!

I don't know if you can see (click photo to enlarge)....but I used a blue thread to hand quilt this.

This was my first try at Baptist fan hand quilting.....hhhhmmm....the jury is still out on how I feel about them......I like the look, but doing the actually quilting.....well, I think I need to talk to you Tonya about how you do yours!

A little Kaffee scrap strip for the back.........and we're all done. I.LIKE. Hope you do too Gail!!

This little mini quilt measures around 14" x 19".

Chunky Churndash Quilt

WHAT do me and this quilt have in common??? We were BOTH up at 2:00 a.m. this morning! I was bound and determined to get this finished before the end of the year.....well, I just barely slid in on time.....HA! I have a whole day to spare!!!

The back.........showing off the hand quilting......ooooooouuuuu....be still my heart! My concentric circles are 1 1/2 inches apart. I debated at the time between that and one inch. I wish now I had gone the one inch. I like it like it is....but I have seriously considered hand
quilting another line in between.....OK....I'm dun considering...and that won't be happening!

The little churndash blocks change into different designs depending on the fabrics don't they? This is a pattern I used from Bonnie at Quiltvilles website. I can't believe the navy triangles are sewn with some fabric I have had for 17 yrs......and the fabric used for the back I have had for at
least 16 yrs........and whaaaaaa.....I still have too much of it left!!!!

WOW....I almost can't contain myself.....sooooo FAB after the washing!!!

Sorry Little Churndash quilt...I know it took me a while and sometimes I neglected you...folded you up and put you away more than once.....but we're friends now aren't we???

It Only Took 23 yrs.....

..................YES YEAH.......it took 23 yrs. to finish this.........FINALLY!!!! 23 yrs. ago I didn't know how to make up and sew on a label........

It's a nice double bed size quilt.....you can read the story HERE about this 23 yr. wonder............

23 yrs. ago I didn't know how to cut and sew on binding.........I've been about the last 8 months searching for the right binding fabric......nothing looked right......until one day by accident I was digging through some of my older stash and dug out this vintage gingham from an estate sale....PERFECT! I did a little 'happy' dance that day!!

23 yrs. ago I didn't know how...or that you were supposed to hide your quilting knots....LOL...the whole back of this quilt is 'full' of these little knots......I LOVE IT!!

23 yrs. ago I didn't know ANYTHING about HAND QUILTING.....as is visible here with all the varying size stitches......LOVE THIS TOO!!

23 yrs. ago I didn't know that you should line up your seams 'a little' bit better than I did here......the pinky mauve and white strip shown to the left is one of many repair pieces I had to add before I could sew on the binding.....just CRAZY in LOVE over these tiny pieces!!

I LOVE THIS QUILT!!!!! It has MANY warts....flaws....and mistakes....AND was a nightmare to get finished because of all these issues.......but when I finally finished it.....I layed down on my couch and covered up with it......and you know.....I had the best feeling in the world!! This little quilt and I have traveled a lot of miles together ........I THINK IT IS MY FAVORITE!!!

JUST A NOTE.....I have finished some other projects since I started the above quilt.....but this is officially my VERY FIRST one I started.

Forgotten 'Reveals'...

I was going through my photos and came across these and realized I had not shown the reveal after the 'sneak peek'. Shame on me!! Remember this teapot tutorial that Pink Penguin shared with us. I loved it so much I ran quickly and made one...and then two more. I turned this one into a cute little potholder!

Here is a showing of the back. Don't you just love the blue ric rac!!! This potholder was sent off as part of a gift.

This reveal was harder to photograph....long and skinny (like me.....ha!!) It's a nice table runner I hand quilted. I have decided smaller projects are harder for me to hand quilt. Smaller means they are 'light weight' and I have a harder time keeping in control of it.....does that make any sense?? Maybe I was just being weird about it.

I used a coordinating fabric for the back and I just love all of the different teapots and teacups. Click on the photo to enlarge and you can see some of the fans and cross hatch design I used for the hand quilting. Part of the fabric on the front reminds me of old handkerchiefs. This table runner was also sent off as a gift, but looking at it here.....I can sure envision it on MY table right now.
Hope you enjoyed the reveals and I'll try not to forget to reveal my other 'sneak peeks'!!