Butterflies Burst their Cocoons

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. 

Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.

~Pearl S. Buck

Quilting

Ok. So they weren't in cocoons but only because they aren't real butterflies. These are blocks I started years ago that somehow ended up in a baggie in the back of a drawer. Actually only about twenty were sewn. The rest of the baggie was green backgrounds and black-and-white bodies. 

I decided to use larger pieces from the scrap bag and a few other leftovers to make the rest of the wings. The blocks finish at four inches so one hundred should be needed to make a baby quilt... And there weren't enough backgrounds and bodies. After all this time there's no more of either of these fabrics. 

I have no recollection of my original layout for these blocks or even how large a quilt was planned. These days I use found blocks to make baby quilts, the easiest way to move them along. So... how to make it work? My solution was to create a two-inch inner border so the butterfly blocks fit inside and out even though they don't "line up" all the way across the quilt.

Here are four light fabrics as possible inner borders. The one on the left is a remnant from the Shadow Stars border and I discounted it. Looking at it here, it should have had more serious consideration. The floral at the top gets lost at times. The blue at the bottom doesn't have enough contrast.

The print on the right was the final choice. It makes a soft break. 

 

Can you even tell the butterfly bodies taper? I can't. 

I first saw butterfly quilts in a Japanese version with solid black backgrounds. It reminded me of a traditional block Called Arkansas Traveller. The bodies in those versions  didn’t taper. Not wanting to copy exactly, I chose this bright green background and altered the body. Not thrilled with either decision. But I do like the layout. It makes the wings appear to curve. A very cool effect.

At least there were enough parts to create a baby quilt and it works well for that use.

Interestingly, yesterday I ran across another butterfly quilt Hubblebird recently finished. She used a black background and found directions linked in her blog for her slightly larger blocks if you’d prefer that to the small ones I started.

Reading

To escape an unwanted marriage in 1714, Addie bargains with a "dark god" to live freely until she chooses to die. The consequence is that she is forgotten as soon as people's eyes leave her face. Three hundred years later a young man remembers her. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab makes an interesting read. 

It's hot here but this close to the coast, scattered showers build almost every afternoon. This week though we hear lots of thunder and see rain all around but it hasn't fallen on us until today. We had an hour of good soaking rain so I won't have to water tomorrow. 

Enjoy the day, Ann