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Sunday, May 28, 2017

Darth Vader Butterfly

In 2016, I chose a scrappy butterfly block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  During the year, I made 16 butterflies.  Fifteen of those butterflies went into quilts.  The 16th is now a completed mini quilt.  It measures 16 1/2" by 11 1/2".


This was actually the first butterfly block I made and it is my favorite.  The main reason is that I love the Darth Vader face that is in one of the butterfly wings.  I just think the idea of Darth Vader in a butterfly is hilarious.  It makes me happy.  I'm glad to add it to my wall of mini quilts in my office at work.

I looked up butterfly species to see if I could find some ideas of how to name this so it sounded like a real scientific butterfly name, but so many of them are straight-forward that I decided the simple "Darth Vader Butterfly" was the way to go.

This was made with scraps and Kona Prussia as the binding.

The first completed quilt with this block was a baby quilt for Lady Bug, a family friend.  Nine butterflies went in to this quilt.



The second completed quilt was donated to Project Linus and was named Butterflies in the Sky.  Six butterflies went into this quilt.


Turning the last butterfly into a mini quilt was goal #10 on my list of Q2 goals for the globally hosted Finish Along.

RSC16

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Koala

My koala pillow is done!  Koala joins Panda and Monkey in my pillow menagerie on the couch.  There are Hedgehogs on a nearby chair, and a Penguin and a Piggie in my son's room.


The pattern is part of the Zoo Animals bundle by Kristy @ Quiet Play. The original pattern is for a 10" block; I enlarged to a 16" block then added borders for a 20" pillow. The fabrics are all Kona: Ash, Coal, and Medium Gray for the body, Black & Snow in the eyes, Chestnut for the tree, and Willow for the background.


The Koala pillow was my May monthly goal for OMG hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts. (Goal setter #84.) It was also #6 on my list of Q2 goals for the globally hosted Finish Along.

Elm Street Quilts


Friday, May 19, 2017

Green Elephants

This year I am making elephant blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by Angela of So Scrappy.    I am using both the small and the large elephants from the Elephant Parade quilt along by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts.  I'm making 2 large and 3 small elephants in each color.  May's color is green.


I'm looking forward to June's color!

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

April & May Bee Blocks

I never posted my April bee blocks, and that's partly because they fit so well with May's blocks.  Several of us in Bee Inspired are also in Stash Bee.  Irene, who I met in February, was Queen of Stash Bee in April and Queen of Bee Inspired in May.  I knew she planned on asking for the same block in both bees, so I made 2 in April.

Irene's Blocks
Irene asked for a block she designed: a 9-patch in a 9-patch in a 9-patch.  The smallest 9-patch starts with 1" squares.  Tiny!  I didn't love working with pieces that small.  She asked for soft grays. I didn't have much that fit what she wanted, so I had to visit my LQS.  What a tragedy!

the tiny 9-patches, with a quarter for size reference




Velda was Queen of Bee Inspired for April and she asked for a fun crow block--she's making a murder of crows.  (I had no idea that the name for multiple crows was murder!)  We were each asked to make 4 fun crows but not sew them together.  She also had us wait to post pictures, as she created quizzes about each set of birds as she received them, to see if we could guess who made which birds.  It's been a lot of fun.

Velda's Murder of Crows
She mostly wanted scrappy backgrounds, but said that one could have the same fabric for the entire crow.  I used a light bird print because I thought it was funny--it's the bird on the lower left.

Kimberly is the Queen in Stash Bee for May.  She asked for  bright 9-patches in a single color with a white center.  She said anything goes as far as fabric, and that novelty prints were okay.  And the finished quilt will be a kid's charity donation.  Novelty fabrics are my favorites so I went right to my scrap drawer of 3 1/2" squares to see what colors I had a lot of.  I had almost everything I needed right there, I only needed to cut my white squares and one aqua looking square. 
Kimberly's bright 9-patches
I also did one hive crash for May.  Jan in another hive chose a cat block that is a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial for her block.  I've been thinking that this block might make a good choice for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I jumped at the chance to test it out for myself. I liked the block and it was nice and easy, so I may have a cat quilt in my future.

Jan's Cats
I meant to do the cats facing different ways, but I can be directionally challenged.  By the time I figured out what I would need to do to make the cat face the other direction, I had already made that step and did them all the same.  What I need to remember is to make the ear/head unit first.  The tutorial has you make the body unit first, but once you do you are locked in. If you do the face/ear unit first, you can decide later how you want your cats to be.




I mentioned that I met Irene in February.  She is the one who had an extra bed at her accommodation for Quilt Con and invited me to join her and her companions.  Here we are at breakfast one morning. 


I'm on the far left and Irene is in the light blue shirt.  Her friends are Sana (between us) and Flora (far right).  The four of us totally clicked and had a great time!  I'm hoping Irene & I can get together again; we only live about 3 hours apart.

Monday, May 8, 2017

New Quilt Bloggers Week 4

It's the last week of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop.  I've enjoyed participating again, and I've found a whole lot of new quilt blogs to follow and made new friends. 





In my Hive, there are four blogs featured today.  Check them out!

Saturday, May 6, 2017

May OMG

I've been so dedicated to finishing Scrap Dance Tango that I haven't worked on anything else in over a month. Now that the top is done and hopefully gets mailed off to a long armer on Monday, I'm ready to tackle something new!

It's been a few months since I've added to my pillow menagerie. My next animal is a koala.  This is part of the Zoo Animals bundle by Kristy @ Quiet Play.  (The monkey pillow was from the same pattern set.) This will be a 20" pillow when I'm done.


Completing the pillow is my One Monthly Goal for the linky party hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.
Elm Street Quilts

Monday, May 1, 2017

New Quilter's Blog Hop Week 3!

We are now into week 3 of the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Hop.  I have been enjoying getting to know a new group of quilt bloggers and finding new blogs to read.



My hive has five featured blogs today.  Check them out!


Amy @ AmyScrapSpot
Barbara @ Crazy Red Quilts
Gina @ Quilts and Cakes
Kara @ Sunshine Kwilts
Nicole @ Handwrought Quilts