It’s a butterfly!

After viewing an image of the Tula Pink Butterfly Quilt pattern, on Craftsy, I immediately thought, “I must make this!!”.  I waited a bit for a nice sale, the hit the “Add to Cart” button and anxiously awaited my first order of a full quilt kit.

Upon arrival, I unwrapped the package and went through the contents of the kit, and the pattern instructions.  I quickly realized that there was no fabric key that would enable me to match the final result as I saw it on the site.

But I really wanted a quilt that looked like the one that I fell in love with.

I scanned the coloring book version of the quilt pattern, so that I could create somewhat of a paint by numbers approach to creating my own fabric key.  I then went back to the site and downloaded all the photos of the finished quilt images so that I could reference a zoomed in version of each quilt block and record the fabric used for each piece.

I then created a coding system for each fabric so that I could label the coloring book image with the appropriate fabric label code.

I then went about the business of cutting out the fabric for the first few blocks.  I was able to take advantage of my fabric cutting machine as well as my set of rulers, since the blocks were all pretty traditional.

I took my time, piecing together the blocks here and there, while I learned as much as I could about how to quilt free motion.  Before long, I had pieced together the entire quilt top, and it was time to start thinking about the kind of batting I wanted to use.

Quilt Top Complete

Having completed all the piecing, including adding in all the background sections, I had to think about how I wanted to quilt all the sections and particularly, the negative space.  

I knew that I wanted to include feathers in the negative space, including some that would look similar to antennae for the butterfly.  I knew that I wanted to do lots of pebbling, spirals and a few custom shapes on the individual blocks.

So I began my marking on the blocks, since they were primarily what made up the center of the quilt, and that was where I intended to start my quilting.  I used plastic templates and chalk and disappearing ink markers to mark my way.

Bad Choices

Typically for my spiral quilting, I have used wool batting.  I love the loft, drape and weight of wool batting.  But I wanted to try something different.  So I opted for a “lux”, heavy cotton batting.  Initially I tried doubling the batting, for added loft but this resulted in a quilt that only a powerlifter could move.  And so, alas… I had to unpick all the quilting I began.

This is all a learning process, right?   Ok, so I took a break from the quilt for a bit, after backing out of my double-batting mistake but I took breaks here and there, to ensure that the journey would continue to be pleasurable.

Finished Project

I sat down at my domestic sewing machine and quilted each block, then each section.  I took my time and put the quilt away for a few months as I needed and in the end I was really proud of what I was able to create.  Today, when I am asked how long it took to make this quilt, it is very difficult for me to give an answer, because this quilt was more about a journey and all that I was able to learn.