Hi dear friends! It has been a little bit quiet here lately but something I have done. Lots of planning in my mind, lots of thinking what fabrics to use/order and finally some testing blocks. Beginning a new quilt project is always exciting but it can be also very challenging, too.

As you know, I plan as a go and always with the fabrics. They give me ideas and that’s the way I like to see what fabrics and colours will work as I like. But for this big project I need to order fabrics before I can really start and because it can take even 4 weeks to receive them, I can’t just order something to try and then order more.

After lots of lots of thinking I have ended up to Kate Spain‘s ‘Early Bird’ from Fat Quarter Shop. Adding some beautiful blue prints, I’m sure this will work well. I’m imagining different kind of butterflies in different sizes. Have to find a way to make some flowers, too. Perhaps some applique, but that I shall see later.

When trying to think how to make improvised butterflies, I draw one. This could be paper pieced but also this can be a guide for free piecing. I wanted to try free piecing to be able to make butterflies that look improvised and coulr make some of them quite big.

You can see from these process photos that I was going on with similar way like paper piecing but without paper. And of couse my pieces are not precise. I tried to find fitting pieces from scraps and when didn’t manage, then cut from the big piece of fabric.

I had to trim the turquoise more than I had planned so the wings became quite short, but there are so many kind of butterflies so I think this is also cute. I don’t know if these will in the quilt. I have to see later when I have done a lot with the main fabrics.

One evening I had company, not only Hanna, but this tiny dragonfly (is it dragonfly?).

Looked like she enjoyed modelling and was watching what I’m doing. It stayed at the end of the iron board all the evening! When I made the ‘Bunny’s Friends’ quilt, I had special little helper! Perhaps you like to read the story: Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. When I looked now those posts I was wondering how my sewing room was then so empty and in order?!

Nelli enjoyes her special private window place. This is Nelli’s room and place to store ‘things’. This window is in the last corner, perhaps the most pieceful place in the whole house but with a great view to the garden. Nelli can see what the dogs are doing there, if any neighbour cat is passing, birds visiting the water bowl. She found this place on her own when wanted to hide from ‘Paris’ and from then I find her sleeping here long times every day.

When I decided about the fabrics, I thought I could use also some Grand Canal (by Kate Spain too) I had purchased earlier. Because they are Jelly roll, I wanted to try how the make a butterfly with strips.

Those diamonds are there because I had already made many of them with that Jelly roll. I may use them or not. They could be on the borders around, spread randomly or they could create something like flowers.

While waiting the fabrics to travel on the other side of the world, I can make some small butterfly blocks with paper piecing and to test how perhaps make some flowers.

Thank you very much for visiting and reading my blog! If you have a moment, write few words because your lovely comments make my day! Have you sewn butterflies? Have you tried free piecing or do you like foundation paper piecing?

If you like to crochet, you may like this crochet butterfly with free pattern. Notice that this pattern is not mine, I have only translated it. I was asked so much about the pattern and if there is English version, that I translated it with help of Avis from ‘Oh Sew Tempting’. Unfortunately I never managed to receve any answer from the original pattern but I have shared the link to it in the English pattern. So there you can find it also in Finnish.

I’m linking at ‘Needle and Thread Thursday’ at ‘My Quilt Infatuation’. 

TEJE