Butterfly Quilts and a Winner

Going to the dentist was not fun today. An unexpected root canal, and a few pain pills later, have made me a little goofy! Please forgive me for posting the winner so late.

Since I have your attention, though, I thought we could talk butterfly quilts for a little bit. A lot of you have asked me about the butterfly quilt in my header and have asked if there is a pattern. Well there is and there isn't. I'll show you what I mean.

"Butterfly Garden" from the June 2001 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.
Designed by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins of Piece O' Cake Designs

This quilt was on the front cover of the magazine and I fell in love. My grand-daughter was about to be born and I needed to make her a "coming home from the hospital" quilt. And since I love butterflies and have a butterfly garden, I thought she should have her own butterfly garden, too. Although I love the butterflies and the flowers in this quilt, I wanted mine to be different. So I searched through my quilting books and came up with my own little version of this quilt. I machine pieced and machine appliqued each little butterfly and flower. My friend, Judy Laquidara, machine quilted it so beautifully for me.

My other butterfly quilt was found while I was thrift shopping with my best friend, Terry. We had taken a little vacation to Washington, IN to spend a few days sewing and shopping at the quilt shop behind the hotel. It was perfect. We totally rearranged the hotel room, set up our Sew Ezi tables, and sewed for three days. For breaks we would shop at the quilt shop, come back, and sew some more. There were several little antique stores near by so we shopped those, as well. You can't imagine how excited I was to find this:





It was in a box with a lot of scrap fabrics. (I was shooting pictures of the fabrics and my camera died, so I'll have to post those in the next few days.) Knowing me, I probably squealed (and jumped up and down).

Each butterfly is hand appliqued and


hand painted. Hand painted???



Yes, hand painted! I think it's so cute! My guess is that the quilter didn't know how to do the button hole stitch by hand, so she hand painted the little stiches. She knew she loved the look, but didn't know how to do it, so she decided to get a little artsy! I love that!!! I don't like her taste in sashing, but looking at the butterflies and their bright fabrics, I think someone else added that dreadful looking sashing. I'm just sayin'.

Like I told you before, I am teaching Butterfly Love at my Quilt Guild's June workshop. I chose 1930's reproduction fabrics because I knew that a lot of the ladies in my Guild either have those fabrics in their stash, will share with each other, or they could buy some from the local shops.

I decided to do a little research on butterfly quilts and I found out something interesting. In the 1930's the butterfly quilt block was popular. The butterfly represented new life and hope during the Great Depression. Quilters would make their butterflies out of their bright feed sacks. With that in mind, and considering our nation's current economic situation, my idea of making the quilt in 30's reproductions was perfect.













Hmmm. I really should have pressed this quilt before I flung it over the fence and shot it's picture!! You'll forgive me, right???

If you're the winner, you'll be getting (15) 6 1/2" squares of 1930's reproductions just like the ones I used in my butterflies plus the pattern!

Okay, so enough of my rambling about butterfly quilts. Now to announce the winner!!! The random number generator chose #32, Connie W! Congratulations, Connie!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. Be sure to visit the Sewn website. It's up and running and it's amazing!!!

Amanda