In 2004, I participated in a block exchange at my local quilt guild. The blocks were butterflies, obviously a favorite of mine. Once I had received the blocks (four in addition to my own), I had to decide on a quilt pattern. Since one of my children was engaged to be married, I decided on a baby quilt size, in hopes of becoming a grandmother someday.
My mother's mother had been a quilter, but died before I was born. One of the things that she consistently did, apparently, was to make baby quilts. I never received one, of course. I had in my library the book, Better Homes and Gardens: Grandma's Best Full-Size Quilt Blocks, and found the pattern used for the butterflies in it (pps 148, 195-6). It is from the time period when my grandmother was fairly prolific making quilts. I decided to make it to honor my grandmother.
The quilting is free-style machine quilting. Fabrics are cottons, including batiks. The images quilted in the separating blocks are cone flower heads, since the cone flower is attractive to butterflies. I learned that dense free-style machine quilting makes for a stiff block, as each of the butterflies is surrounded by an intense amount of quilting. Fortunately, the intervening blocks are not as densely quilted.
"Butterflies for Grandma Barbara"
Butterfly Birthday Blocks - Quiltmaker's Guild 2004
Modified Butterfly Quilt
Until next time, may you experience peace and all good.
Very pretty quilt, Dianne. I like the coneflower shapes in the sky like areas. Grandma Barbara must be smiling!
ReplyDeleteYour beautiful butterflies rival mother nature.You did a great job with the colors you chose. That is a pleasure to look at. I really enjoyed reading your post as a grandma it was a reminder of how much we influence the younger generations. I hope my influence is always positive. Love Lois
ReplyDeleteI have the book and am working my way through it. I have a number of the butterfly blocks already made up and am embroidering round them. I like the different fabrics you have chosen for yours.
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