Butterfly Dance - Revisited

 A quick walk to the river early this morning was about as far as I ventured from home today. Many and varied family responsibilities filled my time, yet I was inspired by magnificent photos of snow capped mountains, brilliant ideas for embroidery, print making and quilting. The designs, fabrics and faces of the Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh passed before my eyes. The internet brings a great wealth of ideas, information and a real sense of being connected with the world, right from my home in our Australian country town.

Coinciding with the huge US Quilt Market each Fall and Spring Amy Ellis hosts an online Blogger's Quilt Festival. Today I'd like to briefly revisit my Butterfly Dance quilt and participate in the Spring festival, sharing from DownUnder where summer pleasantly lingers into Autumn.....

This is a quilt which nearly wasn't. I had decided not to make a quilt for my friend's tenth baby, which was due late December. But when Erin had a beautiful a baby girl just days before Christmas, I could't stop thinking bout this brand new baby with a delightful name.

There is something about news of a new life which melts your heart. Soon I was pulling fabrics from my stash which needed to become a quilt to share in the joy of a baby as well as wrapping love and warmth around her as she grows beyond babyhood.

The last stitches in the binding were completed late on New Year's Eve. I couldn't wait to meet this newborn, and I wanted to have the quilt finished to deliver when we visited.

Eager siblings watch on as baby peacefully feeds while Erin unwraps the quilt. 

There is great joy in making a quilt to give to someone you know, for even though a part of your heart and soul goes along with it, somehow you end up being a little richer for having given it away.


You can see more photos and read the full story in the original post here.

Sharing in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival: Small Quilts.

Butterfly Dance

Before my friend's baby was born I had already decided NOT to make a quilt. It was Erin's tenth baby, the last three had been boys, and I gifted her a baby quilt for the most recent baby almost three years ago. No, I was not going to make a quilt this time.

But then Erin had a girl, December 22nd...and they chose a delightful real life name for her (Bella is her screen mane). As Christmas came and went I kept thinking about baby "Bella", a brand new blessing to my friend as we all celebrated the birth of our Saviour.

On Boxing Day (Dec 26) I was still thinking of Bella as I painted with my younger girls. Leaving the painting I went to my favoured medium for creating, my fabric stash, and saw some fabrics perfect for a little girl ..... and knew I wanted to make a quilt with love just for Bella. Something quick and easy yet beautiful and useful.

So I washed and ironed, designed and sketched, cut and sewed, cut and repositioned and sewed until I was happy with the quilt top. The butterfly print is the central fabric around which I chose complementary fabrics. Butterfly Dance seemed to be the right name for this quilt.

Very late on New Year's Eve I finished hand stitching the binding on the quilt, which then only needed a label.

Miss G came for a walk with me on New Year's Day to be my quilt holder as I took some photos. Standing in the middle of Fig Tree Avenue, we quickly scuttled off the road whenever traffic came along. This driver stopped, wanting to know what we were doing and suggested we should take photos with his car in them too! So we did.   :)

Yesterday I made a matching card and we headed out to visit Erin, PC and family and to see their beautiful new baby for the first time. As Erin fed baby some of their children watched on as gifts were unwrapped. They all loved the Butterfly Dance quilt - and we all loved little baby Bella.....

Handmade Hearts Christmas Decorations - Tutorial

There's something special about handmade decorations, I feel our tree isn't complete unless there's a homemade touch added.

This year the children have chosen to decorate using only silver, gold and pure white. Miss E's hand crocheted stars and paper snowflakes from earlier years meet the colour requirements but none of the decorations I had made. I lay in bed pondering what I could make. These satin stars, stitched in silver thread are the result.

Using pure white Princess Satin, the thickest, richest I could find, I ironed on some stiff fusible interfacing.

Then I traced around a small paper heart template (cookie cutters would make good templates too) using a water soluble pen. Folding and pinning the now stiffened satin back to back I stitched the two pieces together with running stitch. I already had a skein of DMC Precious Metal Effects thread in silver, just right for the job. 

Above is the back which looks just like the front except without the blue pen markings. I began the stitching with a knot hidden between the two layers, then finished with a couple of stitches on top on each other going through the back layer only, hiding the end between the front and back layers.

After joining the front and back pieces with the running stitch, I carefully cut out the heart shapes with sharp scissors. Next I gently wet each heart to make the blue pen lines disappear, blotting dry on a clean towel. Lastly I managed to add a hanging thread by looping it through one of the top running stitches (as shown above) which helps the heart hang face forward on the tree.

Six new hearts (so far) hang cheerfully on our tree. They are cheap to make, bright and shiny and will take up next to no space to store (extra bonus) - or I may even find a happy spot for them to stay hanging all year round!

You could of course try stars or any shape, maybe adding embroidery, sequins or beads. Personally I like the simplicity of the hearts after all, love, His love, is what the season is all about.

Happier tree and a happier me!



Sharing at Maxabella Loves, In the studio.

What a Week!

See that smile! It says it all! Master J had his very last school exam today, Physics, which he wasn't looking forward to. All went well, it is FINISHED!!! There is an even greater relief behind that smile - of career decisions becoming clear just two days ago.

Miss E (21) is still in the big city and is likewise meeting with success and firming up plans and dreams in an amazing fashion. She'll be home in a couple of days.

As for little Miss E, she is managing the stilts - "All by herself" (well, not quite...).

The two Miss E's have a special bond and have kept in touch through FaceTime each day and night  while Stripes the tiger watches on.

Yesterday was Jaca Thursday in our town, the middle of an annual week-long festival while the hundreds of jacaranda trees are in bloom. I took the younger ones to have a look. Ten minutes was enough for all of us, then we headed to the shops to buy Despicable Me 2 which was released here on DVD yesterday.

It's been quite a week, on top of all the regular happenings here......at times it's felt like I've been the one teetering on the stilts, trying to keep up with life.

Blue Bird Mini Quilt

The love a particular fabric often inspires my next project. Some of you will remember I originally had bigger plans for this gorgeous blue bird fabric, part of Gennine Zlatki's Alegria fabric range however sometimes less is more, even with quilting.

In addition to hand quilting around the fabric frames of each block, I have also added half a dozen little quilting crosses dotted through the large block to secure it. These are the same little crosses which I worked out and used throughout the large centre panel of my Sunlit Treasure quilt (seen below).

Since completing this quilt last month I have replaced the original garden stick hanger with a piece of dowel from the hardware store which helps it to hang more exactly. Completed size is 23" x 25".

Perched outside this afternoon the quilt looked quite at home amongst the trees. The air is filled with the sound of real birds (more of those in my next post), enjoying the warm start to winter in our part of Australia.

As for those little leftover orphan blocks, they are still sitting in my fabric cupboard waiting for further inspiration and time......


Sharing at the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge.

Simple Life Quilt

The fabric for the binding (outer edge, the last stage of making a quilt) arrived in the mail yesterday - 24 hours later The Simple Life quilt was finished and ready for snuggling under. Miss E (5) loves her/our new quilt, especially the blocks which she hand stitched around, one on the front and one on the back. It's been wonderful to work on a quick, fun and simple quilt after my two year journey with Sunlit Treasure.

Winter is near, we've used the heater a little the last few days and seek the sunshine to help us warm up during the day. I can see this quilt being well used.

Quilty Details

Dimensions: 41" X 50"

Special Techniques: Fussy cut pieces were raw edge machine stitched in place (no fusing) then most were hand embroidered/stitched in red DMC embroidery floss (Miss E chose to stitch her block for the back in green DMC). 

My own design, pieced and straight-line quilted on my 28 year old Janome.

The feature fabric is from Tasha Noel's The Simple Life fabric range as are the aqua gingham and aqua bunting. The little mushrooms, large red dot and the red "Little Leaves" binding are from Tasha's recently released Little Red Riding Hood range. Remaining fabrics from my stash.


Sharing at Blogger's Quilt Festival: Throw Quilt and In The Studio.