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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Butterflies Finished!


Today I finished putting the sashing on the Butterfly quilt. It turned out about 60x80 inches so I am glad I didn't put any plain blocks between them. They are quite large blocks, about 13 inches square so it would have been a huge quilt if I had added any more blocks. I debated on the outside border and it came down to the polka dots or a purple but I felt the polka dots were a bit softer.

Now the big question. How to quilt it? Always my biggest problem on any quilt. There are some constraints. It has to be machine quilted. One hand quilting at a time is plenty and there is still lots to do on the Irish Chain. It can't be too difficult because I don't have a longarm and I am far from expert. I am thinking of a meander or wave on the blue but should it go over everything or should I do the butterflies differently? And if so, how? Any input will be welcome.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love that quilt Joyce...good job...and thanks for the compliment..lol...Toni

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

Joyce, what fun you have been having this past week, snow butterflies and grandchildren-fine examples of fabulous creation! You did just what I would have with the butterflies and they are all happily fluttering in the blue sky. I am just a stitch in ditch quilter so don't ask me to help!

i loved the cigar box, I may have to get the glue gun out today and show my daughter what she can do with it. i have never seen sparkly glue sticks for it though.

meggie said...

Love those butterflies!
Good Luck with the quilting, it will be quite a big task.

Anonymous said...

If you're looking for suggestions for the actual quilting, may I suggest rolling the quilt very very tightly the long way, so that the roll will fit under the ssewing machine arm? That way you could machine quilt a Ghost butterfly at the corners between four patch butterflies. A butterfly is pretty simple, a series of four loops, even I can do that!
The rest of the blue part of the quilt could be done in meander or wavy lines to represent air.
If I have not mentioned this yet, your quilt is absolutely lovely

dot said...

The quilt is lovely. As for the quilting I don't know. I struggle with that myself. I sure do like this pattern. I am going to have to see if I can find the magazine. You said you got it at a second hand store, is that right? I will look at your previous post.

Anonymous said...

what a great quilt joyce! You've done a wonderful job.

Anonymous said...

Wow - it turned into a large quilt didn't it? I love your turquoise fabric - cool and calming. As for the quilting .... I have the same problem trying to figure that out with my own projects. I'll come back and see what you decided soon.

Anonymous said...

Love the finished top. The border is pretty and I love the same color sashing.

I'm no help in the quilting department. I am a meanderer... If only there was a formula for choosing quilting...

Melzie said...

That is so pretty :) GOod luck deciding! xoxo melzie

Anonymous said...

I always get stumped at that point, too! I have a log cabin that's been sandwiched and staring me down for over a year now, waiting for me to decide how to quilt it! Good luck! I love how the butterflies just hover there.

Clare said...

Its beautiful. Can't help on the quilting - have enough trouble trying to decide for myself LOL.

Elaine Adair said...

Oh gosh - it turned out so pretty - I knew it would!

Quilting ??? I always have to stare a while .. I like the idea of moving air, maybe some outline around each butterfly ??? When I'm in a HURRY I do big loopy meandering over EVERYTHING, and when it's being used, you don't notice the threads, you notice the pattern of the motifs .. IMHO.

Patti said...

It really turned out nicely. I would do something separate on the butterflies to really emphasize them, and meander only the background.

Ann said...

Wow, this turned out beautiful! I love it. As for quilting, that's always a hard decision. I like the idea of the ghost butterflies, as some one posted here. Then, I think I'd outline your butterflies with some loop de loops in the wings, maybe, and then some meandering in the turquoise...Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will be wonderful!

Nancy said...

Nice butterflies. :-) Sorry can't help with the quilting design. If it can't be done in the ditch or simple straight lines I'm lost. Have I mentioned that I'm not really a quilter but a topper. :-)

Anonymous said...

The butterflies just look like they are floating. Nicely done! I like your idea of meandering around the butterflies. They need to be outlined or something different to add to their "pop."

Anonymous said...

Wow! You sure put that together quickly. I love how it looks, you've done a wonderful job!
*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)