Let’s talk Monarch’s!!

So, yesterday, I had the background finished and now it was time to think about the guest of honor….the butterfly!!

I found a great photo online and enlarged it to the size I wanted.

I started out by drawing the outline on a piece of black fabric and then roughly cutting it out.

Next, I added the wing bits…..

As I was trying to figure out how to add all of the small white areas, my friend Linda said “Why don’t you paint them??” At one point I thought I might do some painting on this quilt so I brought my paint supplies with me!!

It didn’t take long to paint the white spots. I decided to add a bit of grey to the edges to give them a bit more depth.

I also added a bit of green paint to the inner sections to give more depth there too.

Since I am NOT a painter, what I did was minimal but I think that it added a lot to the Monarch!!

Now it was time to tackle the Milkweed.

I brought this photo with me…..

….and used it as my guide.

Once again, I am going for depth so started with some paints on white fabric. I got excited doing this step and kept forgetting to take photos, but you can see it pretty well in this photo….

I started out with a sea sponge, then added brush strokes in green and then some brown as well.

Next, I used the photo and cut out lots and lots of flower shapes. The first set was fused onto the background and heavy embroidery threads were added to the centers. I also used a marker to add some more interest.

The next morning, I added a layer of batting to the back and another set of flowers…..this time sewing them on the machine….

I actually like those better than the hand-sewn ones but I think that the diversity will add to the design.

Once I saw that this idea was going to work okay, I cut out a bunch more flower shapes with fusible on the back and then also fused two fabrics together and cut out flowers that will be loose on the top.

Before I left for the retreat, I found a font that I liked and printed out the words. It was easy work to transfer them to the fusible web and cut them out of fabric. They didn’t show up well on the green background so I added a black fabric strip under them.

I will rough-cut the black before I fuse it down.

When I left the retreat, the quilt was at this stage…..

Lot’s more to come…..I just have to find the time to do it!!!

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Background First

The first project that I worked on at my guild retreat was the Monarch Challenge that I had started at home. You can read about the process up to this point in this post…..

Challenge piecing….

When I left you, I had started making thin strip strata and cutting them into squares. My first step was to finish this process…..

I liked how it looked, so went back and started adding the 1/4-circles in each of the corners…..

You can note here that each block layout matches the design that I had drawn.

I THOUGHT that I done a good job of pinning each circular part in the correct corner of each block, but apparently, that was NOT the case.

When I finished piecing I couldn’t get them back into the same orientation, so this is what I finally decided on…..

I was very frustrated that I had messed up the piecing, but finally decided since much of it will be covered with other designs, that I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Personally, I blame the camaraderie of the retreat but, honestly, I would have probably done the same thing if I was sitting in my studio by myself!!

As I said “goodnight” to my fellow quilters, I was already starting to think about the next steps!!

Come back tomorrow for more……

Time’s up…..

Tuesday was my BIG deadline day!!!

And I made it…..YIPPEE…..

So yesterday, I had a bit later start to the day and worked more in my office, but in a much more relaxed manner!!

And then at 4:00pm, I decided that it was time to do something else…..

SOMETHING FUN…..

SOMETHING INVOLVING FABRIC!!!!

I have two challenges quickly approaching……

The first is the Monarch Challenge from Cherrywood Fabrics….

….and the second is a “Drunkard’s Path” challenge in my local guild…..

The question is WHEN am I going to find time to make two quilts?

The answer is NEVER…..however, I MIGHT be able to make ONE!! I am thinking that I can use the monarch challenge fabrics but make the background in the Drunkards Path design.

What do you think???

The Monarch Challenge has a size limitation of 20 inches. Fortunately, the guild challenge doesn’t have a specified size.

What if I start with the background and do it in a Drunkard’s Path design? Maybe something like this…..

My biggest concern with this plan is that I have a limited amount of fabrics for the background (3 fat-quarters in various greens)……

….so I am doing a LOT of planning before I start cutting!!!

Stay tuned to see what happens next!!

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