Butterfly.... my butterfly....

... wait for me .. don't fly away....

On this post HERE I showed my first few butterflies made using Chantelle's tutorial HERE

Well, I did get a bit carried away cleaning up some of the scraps I had...

I think they look lovely flying on the quilt...

I'm not too sure what I will do with them .. but for the meantime they have to pretend they are still in cocoons....

... as this is happening to our house.....

... and if it sell we will need to find a new home!... staying in this area 

This little "I is for Icecream" alphabet bear has been completed.... 

(Michelle's pattern set)

Righto, Gotto Go.. what ideas to do with a bunch of flutterby's?

Working on my butterfly....

Joy had a give-away and I won this fun quilt book....

...there are some clever ideas in there to work with blocks to make them a bit different.... I love learning new techniques and ideas.... our craft is such fun isn't it???

.. thanks Joy... and thanks to Alice for helping with mailing it ....

... and Illene had a birthday... so she gave away presents.... and I was lucky enough to win ....

there is a cute little fabric box, a kit to make a brooch, two lovely lengths of fabric and matching threads, a pink (breast cancer) pencil and a sewing machine charm... what a lovely selection of goodies to play with... thanks Illene for sharing your birthday...

... and I have joined in with Chookyblue and chief elf Googy Girl for .......

this is a world wide interblog gift swap and it is so fun... I couldn't do it last year due to lots of other committments but I'm looking forward to doing a bit of stalking and then sewing... We all know our partners now so time for thinking caps on......

I have neglected my butterfly quilt but now I have quilted down on each side of the black binding....

.. and then worked some leaves into the background .....

I am not usually brave enough to quilt with a contrast thread but I wanted more than the small background design so I have done a dark green leafy design....

I always enjoying seeing what it looks like from the back....

... next years Vanilla essence has been started... a bottle of vodka and 5 vanilla beans....

Righto, Gotto Go....

My butterfly.....

This has been a fun project to work on.....

A friend of mine did THIS butterfly and has been helping me with mine....  After I had done all the shapes and ironed them down HERE it was time to start sewing....

I chose to make all my 1/4" binding and sewed it with a twin needle... (which I've never done before so that was quite exciting!)

... had to go gently round the curves but it was no problem and it saved sewing two rows...

... here she is outside enjoying a bit of sunshine...

(the colours aren't quite as dull as they look in the picture ... must be that sky taking all the brightness!)

... I thought the back is quite fun too...

...rather a fun technique... I may well do this again sometime....

I want to add a bit of stitching detail onto the background... still thinking on this one.... in the mean time it is waiting with the teacups for some amazing idea.....  

Righto, Gotto Go.....  off to quilting group today.... I joined up with Toowoomba Quilters recently and they seem to do all sorts of interesting things... today is community quilts and we all use up some donated fabrics and make quilts for charity..

Onwards.....

Thanks for the great tips regarding 1/4" black binding....

I thought I'd share a few of them with you.... just in case you are thinking of making some too!

from Chris

 did a thick satin stitch with my machine, using black cotton. It was so much faster and easier!   I have done several wall hangings this way now and I'm never unhappy with the result.

from Sharon

As for the binding, just grab a clover tool but one where you can add the visofix as up pull it through. I had trouble buying the thin vlisofox for the Clover thingie so just cut it myself, much cheaper too.

from Jennifer

Several years ago I did a bias applique workshop and we cut our own fusible stuff using a rotary cutter......not the new blade though. The teacher said she keeps an older blade which only gets used for cutting those strips. Ironing them on took no time at all.

from Katherine

I'd definitely get one of those binding tools ...... are so easy to use. I also use 'crisp' spray starch too. Just watch the steam setting on the iron as I steam burned a finger once. Not a very pleasant experience.

from Marilyn

I have used both bought and "made myself" binding - it is not too difficult to make and definitely cheaper. I used the 1/4 inch steam a seam. I have also cut 1/4 inch wide vliesofix for smaller amounts of binding. 

I found a roll of 1/4" vliesofix in my cupboard so I used that... it was just too big to fit into the clover tool but with some gentle persuasion we ironed on happily... I will also need to cut a bit myself as there wasn't enough

I'm leaving this project for a bit now... until I can get to my next lesson - very inconvenient but my tutor has a real job too!

I had a chat with Mr Random this weekend regarding the mug rugs..... he has selected these ladies .... and luckily they had all chosen a different mat... so no fighting ... not that quilters fight.... I knew that....

here we go.....

For Larissa

For Elyte

For Sheri

For Bev

I am really happy when someone wants something I make... so thanks ladies and let me know your snail mail addresses and I'll send these out to you....

It is very hard to visit a quilt shop and not buy anything extra...

I was given a charm pack of "Puttin' on the Ritz" and a couple of weeks found out that I am to be a GREAT AUNT... for the first time.. and it is going to be a girl

so I bought some pretty pink for sashing and pretty spot for binding

... will get to it.... baby is due in July so I have time???

Lastly but definitely not leastly I got some fun mail this week....

Look what Shez sent me as a birthday gift..... I love her towels - they are so useful when they hang on the handle and don't fall off all the time.  Also were included some little boxes to make... for my little handmade soaps and lotions... great idea and thanks so much Shez.....

I am going to join in with the mini swap for Mothers Day later this year - Cheryll had some lovely labels she made up and sent me one to go on the back of the mini... such a cute idea...

If you are interested in joining the mini swap... a small item and such fun having different ones to display... pop along HERE and have a read ....

Thanks Cheryll..... thinking hat is on for some ideas on what to make

Righto, Gotto Go.... finishing off pincushions .....

An Emerging Butterfly.....

I thought I'd show you a bit more of this emerging butterfly

(whilst I am still ultra excited about it)

and also to show anyone thinking about doing one of these what is involved

maybe you will start one too (??? Susan???? you know who you are....)

choosing which fabrics should go where, ironing the applique bonding and keeping them in order took me all morning .....

It wasn't necessary to leave the 1/4" around all the bonding edges - a lot easier and quicker - cut the vliesofix to the shape and then trim just off the edges - doesn't have to be too totally exact as the bias will go over the top and cover any little bits...

I pinned my backing onto the pattern so I could see where to place the pieces

and started pressing them on carefully.....

... this part took hardly any time at all.....

the backing is a pretty pale green ....

(more like the second picture)

now I need several metres of black 1/4" binding.... I am going to make it myself .... I know you can buy it ready made .. and my friend did but it ended up being quite costly ......

... any tips doing this will be much appreciated ...

So I'm off to the shops later to look for black fabric, strip vleisofix, a binding tool, and a twin needle before I can do the next stage ......  I think it will still end up more cost effective....... and give me time to finish off this project for SAL ....

Righto, Gotto Go.....  a couple of pretty pincushions to make .....
I do hope you find some time for fun this weekend

Next ......

 My new project is a stained glass effect based on this pattern from Just Patchwork

A friend is going to teach me this technique - here is the one she made..... 

you can see it is a bit different to the original pattern...  gorgeous isn't it?

First she had to make up the pattern with two full halves.... it is quite big... the butterfly alone measures about 75cm by 1m ..

I am going to use the bali prints I got for my birthday... and a few extra's from her scraps

First part is tracing all the pieces onto vliesofix .......

I think putting all the colours together will take a while..... but it will be fun

.... see what I found the other day......

..... just too sweet .....
about 3cm long

... this one is not as cute but fascinating ... this giant is from the Galapagos Islands and we saw it at Australia Zoo

about  1.5 metres in length ... grumpy old gramps....

Meanwhile I have stitched another piece for Boys Story.....

.... love it....

you have to say it with voices

Voice 1:  (computer generated) "I come from the planet Zark"

Voice 2:  (NASA nerd accent) "I come in peace"

Voice 1: (computer generated going fast) "Phoop"

silence 

I want a phoop machine....

Righto, Gotta Go.....a butterfly is emerging ....