Masses of butterflies are called kaleidoscopes. Cathy and I recognized in this word a wonderful conjunction of quilting and butterfly habitat preservation. Many species live in limited areas while others, like monarch butterflies, feed on limited diets. Monarch larvae feed solely on milkweed. Eradication of this weed/native plant severely impacts their reproduction which is seen in the decline of their population. On this linkup we share kaleidoscope and butter quilts and fabrics, information of butterfly releases as well as habitat restoration projects. What have you seen lately?
I just bound my latest kaleidoscope. After sharing at my guild meeting, it's off to a new home.
Searching past posts, June was the last time I wrote about the quilt. In fact, I quit working on any quilting in May. But with the quilting started, it called to finally be finished.
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| Kaleidoscope quilt |
Here's where the quilting left off. I was organically stitching {semi}straight lines with the walking foot. Every third or fourth, I deliberately made a curvy line. It's actually easy to straight line quilt on this design. Just aim for the next point of the grid and the lines will be straight{ish}.
My first {and second and third} ideas were to emphasize the template pieces. Why didn't I do that? The printed fabrics are already full of design, I didn't want to over-quilt it, and gifts for young men should hold up to heavy use.
My first {and second and third} ideas were to emphasize the template pieces. Why didn't I do that? The printed fabrics are already full of design, I didn't want to over-quilt it, and gifts for young men should hold up to heavy use.
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| Detail of grid quilting on Kaleidoscope quilt |
I feared the quilting design would overpower or detract from the quilt pattern but that didn't happen. Perhaps because I used peach thread. Lately I've been finding that quilting with a medium-color thread (halfway between the lightest and darkest fabrics) works well for scrap quilts.
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| Back of Kaleidoscope quilt showing leftover strips inserted into center |
The back started with three fabrics: two one-yard cuts and and a quarter yard. After sewing them I cut them lengthwise about a third of the way across. Then I sewed strips of the leftover pieces from the front to widen the back sufficiently.
Previous posts:
Recent butterfly quilts on the web:
Quilt Details
Size: 84" x 84"
Pattern: Kaleidoscope
Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose 100% cotton
Thread: Gutermann peach cotton
Quilting: Organic grid with walking foot
Previous posts:
Recent butterfly quilts on the web:
- Caryl Fallert's Lepidopteran #3
- Jessica who blogs at My Inner Need to Create explains how she appliqued a darling butterfly on her daughter's skirt.
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| Yosemite Region Butterflies |
And this daring beauty flitted ahead of me last week.
Enjoy the day, Ann
InLinkz removed because it was hacked.
Enjoy the day, Ann
InLinkz removed because it was hacked.