CHARM ABOUT YOU

It's been gloriously sunny in Manchester and spring is in the air. The blue skies were a nice backdrop for this dancing Liberty butterflies quilt, even though it was a little bright to perfectly show off the pretty prints. Classic floral prints are quite delicate but look bold and modern framing the butterfly blocks. 

I mixed the two print fabrics, swapping the borders in the four outer blocks and changing the butterfly wings. It's nice to play about with the wings, as they look different depending on the fabric combinations. You can also create another version of the block by swapping the larger wing pieces, which changes the top angle of the wing so they are pointing straight out from the body (see one I made here).

For the butterfly antennae I used a decorative stitch on my machine - mode 2, #07 note to future self. I used the memory function to stitch four star chains and I think they add a nice detail. In the past I have also used a zig zag stitch and hand sewn the antennae but I think it would be fun to play about with other stitches and make them all different!

I kept up with the decorative stitches for the quilting too, with a stitch I've used before - for waves on the Sailing Sailing quilt and a little on the Butterfly mini quilt - mode 2, #19, stitch width 9.

I love the pattern it creates, like fluffy clouds. The only problem is because the stitch is directional you can't turn the quilt around during quilting without making clouds into waves! After quilting through the centre diagonally I stitched the next lines to the left so the bulk of the quilt was going in to the throat of the machine - toughest part first! And then went back to the centre and quilted lines to the right. Technically I should have worked the other way, so the quilted section would be going in the throat (just to keep the quilt nice and flat and well basted) but I wanted to make sure I remembered not to turn it round. The quilt is 36" x 48" so it wasn't really a struggle to quilt.

You can see the demonstration in the video below and then 2 hours in to the show John and I have a 'sew off' making wonky star blocks, which is quite hilarious if you want a laugh!

Wishing you all a joyful weekend and to friends in the UK a lovely bank holiday too!

linking up to finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts