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Thursday, November 19, 2020

Dresden's Butterfly Garden plus giveaway on the Inspired by Nature blog hop

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Inspired By Nature blog hop! I hope you've been enjoying all the beautiful quilts made from Island Batik's summer lines.  I love the Inspired by Nature theme and had a few ideas, including one in particular that I've had in my mind for a while.  I sometimes think about classic quilt patterns and shapes that I haven't made before what I can do with them.  I've never made a Dresden Plate before and I've been wanting to play around with butterflies made with the blades. When I learned that my surprise collection was Tickled Pink, I knew it would work perfectly with what was in my head.

photo by K. Mellnik

Tickled Pink is a delightful collection of pinks, lavenders, light blues, and citrusy orange with lots of hearts, swirls, and flourishes designed by Kathy Engle.  I used all 20 fabrics in the collection, as well as the neutral Yolk for the background and solid pink for the binding.  Yolk is currently my favorite neutral; I love the swirls and the pale yellow makes everything look so warm.


photo by K. Mellnik

I used the EZ Quilting Dresden Tool designed by Darlene Zimmerman.  When I made my test butterflies, I couldn't decide if I liked 4-blade butterflies or 3-blade butterflies better. So I used them both!  

 



Once I determined what size blade I liked, I set to chain piecing.  They created quite a nice, colorful garland!

I loved my Dresden butterflies but felt like something was missing.  I decided to make the butterflies some flowers.  I used pretty small blades for this, as I wanted them to look like flowers.  With a name like Tickled Pink it felt important that one of the pink fabrics be prominent so I picked one I liked and used it for all the flower centers.  

  

Materials used in this project were provided to me by Island Batik, Hobbs, Aurifil, and Schmetz needles.

 
 
I used Aurifil thread 50 weight in color 1135, a bright yellow, to quilt wavy lines to represent the butterfly flight or a gentle breeze. The batting is Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 fusible.  I did all quilting and piecing with Schmetz needles, the only needles I ever use.
 
photo by K. Mellnik

 

Full disclosure: I made this quilt in August!  I've been waiting that long to show it to you!  Like I said earlier, I knew as soon as I saw the Tickled Pink collection that it was perfect for my Dresden butterfly experiment.  I also knew it would look much, much better being photographed with summer foliage rather than late fall foliage, so I made it early.

photo by K. Mellnik

That meant that getting good pictures with flowers was important to me.  Once it was done, I met my friend Kate for a socially-distanced picnic at a park she knew that had a great community garden.  Most of these fabulous pictures are hers; she has an amazing eye for photographs. 

Behind the scenes; photo by K. Mellnik

Now that you have seen Dresden's Butterfly Garden, how about a chance to win some fabric?  I have some leftovers of Tickled Pink to give away.  There are pieces of 5" x 10.5" of 17 of the fabrics in the line.  These could be cut into 5" charm squares but I will leave as longer pieces to make them more versatile.  There are also a few remnants of 2 1/2" strips from the flower blades.  Leave me a comment to enter.  If you need a prompt, tell me something in nature that has inspired a quilt (or other craft) you've made.

Tickled Pink prize.  The squares are folded; they are actually rectangles.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Island Batik also has a giveway for a fat quarter bundle of either Sweet Hearts or Love and Kisses.  Both are beautiful!  You can find the giveaway on their blog, and be sure to check back tomorrow (Friday) for a new giveway and a recap of week 2 of the Inspired By Nature blog hop.  The hop continues for one more week, so don't miss it!  And be sure to check out what my blog hop partner Carol Moellers made with Tickled Pink. 

photo by K. Mellnik

photo by K. Mellnik


41 comments:

  1. Beautiful quilt! Love the butterflies. I don't think I have ever seen Dresden plates used that way!

    Sandy

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  2. I LOVE this quilt! This is a beautiful quilt made with beautiful fabrics. The Dresden Plates were a perfect way to show them off. Thank you for sharing and for your giveaway.

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  3. WOW Your quilt is gorgeous. You really pulled off both the flowers and the butterflies. Thanks for sharing today.

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  4. Oh, how creative you are! Using my Dresden blade ruler is still on my to-do list as I love what can be done with it. Making winged butterflies is perfect, alongside the beautiful flowers. Getting your quilt done early to show it off among the garden was perfect! I love everything about your quilt!

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  5. The colors in nature, any color works! 24Tangent@gmail.com

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  6. A little creative play with dresden blades - I think I would've found an excuse just to let that garland of blades hang for a few days - so fun!

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  7. Your design is beautiful, as is the fabric collection. I love what you did with the Dresdens.

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  8. This is my favorite quilt in the hop so far. You did an outstanding job, I love it.

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  9. This is stunning! As far as nature inspiration, my very first quilt was inspired by the colors of nature in winter.

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  10. The ocean inspires me, made a curved swirls quilt top recently. Your quilt is awesome!!!

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  11. I haven't made anything inspired by nature yet, but I've been planning to make a table runner inspired by Sunset colors. This fabric line looks great in your quilt. I like the butterflies and flowers.

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  12. Your quilt is very pretty. I get inspired to do applique when my roses start blooming.

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  13. Since I have so far given away every quilt that I have made, I think my inspiration comes from the person who will be receiving my quilt. My sister is a gardener, so I want to make her a quilt with flowers on it.
    Nancy A: SewingGranda@gmail.com

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  14. I love your butterflies and Dresden plates(flowers). So much inspiration comes from nature. Thank you for sharing.

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  15. You have made a lovely quilt! And the photos turned out great as well. I live in Calif and have made several quilts with Ca poppies on them. I just love every spring when they pop up everywhere.

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  16. Brilliant and very creative!!
    It's absolutely gorgeous!

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  17. Those photos are stunning and the quilt is gorgeous.

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  18. Beautiful quilt! I love the Dresden Plate block, but I’ve never thought of making butterflies with them.

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  19. Beautiful quilt, stunning fabrics and a perfect location for your photo shoot Emily. What a great friend you have. This past summer when we had a wildfire burning so near, I was inspired to make quilts with suns made with a Dresden ruler, folded Dragonflies and so many bright flowers. The grey overcast skies made me think of some of nature’s treasures!

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  20. A beautiful rose garden was inspiration for a quilt.

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  21. Your combination of dresdens and butterflies is inspired! Your quilt is beautiful. I get inspired by any kind of water - lakes, rivers, the ocean. Thank you for sharing this!

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  22. I live in the forests of NC. It's all about pine cones. We use pine cones for crafts and I teach a class about Pine Cone Math and Quilting.

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  23. Nature often inspires color combinations for my quilts.

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  24. Emily, such a lovey quilt and fitting name! The zinnia colors are the perfect complement to your quilt! I love finding inspiration in varied colors of leaves in nature.

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  25. Wonderful job on this quilt, Emily! Love the dresden butterflies...they are fun to make and now another thing to make with dresden pieces. Hooray. Love the photo shoot too. The quilting is just perfect, too!

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  26. Beautiful and sweet quilt! Butterflies and flowers, the perfect match!

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  27. What a sweet and pretty quilt that is! I have been inspired by my garden to do a flower quilting pattern.

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  28. I made a small quilt using Island Batiks to create a sunset scene and then appliqued wool "pine trees" onto it.

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  29. Beautiful quilt with
    the butterflies and
    flowers! I love walking
    in our local parks in the
    summer.
    Carla from Utah

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  30. I love your quilt! It is so happy! Looking at the sky inspires me. I made two attic window wall quilts - one with a blue sky and fluffy clouds in the window and one with a starry night sky in the window. The day time window is hung on the east wall of my living room and the night time sky is on the west wall. Thanks!

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  31. I hand quilted the designs of wood grain on several quilts and it looked amazing!!

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  32. I love Fall leaves and I have a table runner that I made with the Maple Leaf pattern.
    barbkaup(at)(yahoo)(dot)(com)

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  33. So pretty Emily! Dresdens are on my list to try too. I love your butterfiles and the way your quilt turned out. That Yolk fabric is one of my favorites too. The garden photos are so lovely! Have a great day.

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  34. Such a precious quilt, so unique! I love making the blades for dresdens don't you, all that chain sewing goes so fast. You and your friend picked the perfect spots for the photos:)

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  35. Wow!! Emily you outdid yourself on this one! It is just beautiful and how I love Yolk as your background, SO warm. I can’t believe it’s been done since August! However I totally get why—Kate’s photos are beautiful, especially that last one. What a feast for the eyes.

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  36. This is so unique! I love Dresdens and have been making a few here and there in a variety of sizes (tho I haven't a plan for them yet). Love the butterflies, I may have to try a few and add them to the stack. Your finish is so pretty Emily - great choice for the bundle you were provided. I think you need to keep this one for you!! Lovely!!
    PS - I didn't enter the rafflecopter part - don't enter me in the drawing - I have to reduce what I have before adding more fabric, know what I mean? :-)

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  37. I love the leaves in the fall, they are very inspirational.

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  38. Butterflies and Flowers - so pretty and so colorful. Such a darling quilt. Love the photoshoot too.

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