Challenge, check!

    I finished my butterfly panel challenge yesterday and to say I’m happy with it would be an understatement. I’m thrilled!
     This started with a Christmas gift from my friend Sophie and a challenge to “do something.” We were supposed to have them done last May (I’m very late with this!), but I  couldn’t proceed with a plan. Once I finally had a plan I didn’t really have any problems finishing the piecing.
     But. Then I was afraid to begin the quilting. I took the plunge Saturday and It went very well. I quilted gentle breezes into the sky, circles on the butterfly wings, a small feather in the one border and scrolls in the other. The outer pieced border was a challenge. The piecing had bumpy intersections where eight seams met, so I didn’t feel I could do any all over design, so I stitched in the ditch and added a motif in the wings.
     This project is around 36 inches square. Now that it’s done, I’m left wondering why I was so afraid. Lesson learned: Take the plunge and do it. Give yourself permission to learn.
     Now if I can only transfer this to my next project!
     An overall view:



     I'm linking to Design Wall Monday , the Free Motion Quilting Project, and Let's Get Acquainted Monday.

Winding Ways to a decision

     I've finally decided what to do with my Butterfly Challenge, even though I'm way past the May deadline. The others in my Quilt Bee have all made their tops and they're awesomely creative. I just couldn't come up with anything I liked that would complement the batik panel Sophie gave me as a Christmas gift.

     But I had a breaktrough!
    While blog-surfing last week I came across a quilt that combined a panel and the Winding Ways block. I fell in love and immediately knew that's what I wanted for Sophie's Butterflies. I even had the acrylic templates I needed to cut out the fabrics.

     I made a practice block, which is what you see in the photo. I'm thinking of using the brick reds and some of the pinkish taupe on a black background. I have black and some reds that will work, but definitely don't have the taupe color I want to pick up the light colors in the butterfly's wings.

     You know that means a trip to Rachel's Quilt Shop, don't you? It's a tough job, but I guess I'll just have to do what has to be done. This challenge was supposed to be done by our May meeting, but I didn't want to do anything until I was satisfied with the design. I think this works because the four lobes of the Winding Ways block mimic the butterfly's shape. I'll have to play with a cheater border to make it fit, but that's doable.

     One thing I learned from the practice block: use starch on the fabrics for this block! I tried it without and wasn't happy. I made a second block with starched fabric and it went much better.

     I'll be using acrylic templates to cut the fabrics, which will make it fairly easy to get the cutting done. With a little luck and some careful sewing, this shouldn't take too long.

     I'm also working on a Linus quilt and the Christmas Diamonds, but no pictures of those.

     I'm linking up with Patchwork Times today. You might want to click on over to see what's going on in the quilting universe today!

     Edited June 26, 2012 to add a link to Plum and June. I love finding new blogs to follow and there are some here I"ve never seen.