BUTTERFLY QUILT AND TOTE BAGS

I finally finished the flowers and vines appliqued on the butterfly quilt. Some friends were over on Saturday and they helped hold it up for the photo. It is just way too big for one person to hold it up.

We found four butterflies that don't have antennae so that has to be done, but will only take a few minutes. Next is basting and hand quilting - that is for the winter when it is cooler and I can stand to have a quilt draped over my lap.


Here is the whole quilt - I love the vines and flowers on it. The flowers are tiny Grandmother's Flower Garden pieces. Each piece is 3/4" across when finished. - making the flowers 2 1/4" across.

Close up of some of the flowers and butterflies. Colors are definitely better in person.

I've also been making some shopping bags. I got the super heavy canvas bags on ebay last year. I love how tough they are, and I didn't have to stitch them. I just added some orphan blocks to the front of the bag and I was done. This one is what I call Umbrella Sue - because it kind of reminds me of a SunBonnet Sue block. I made this for a sample to see if I liked it for a whole quilt, and I think a lighter sky/clouds background would be better - so this one gets to be a bag.

I think this is a perfect winter quilt for the rainy Pacific Northwest.

This bat shopping bag is from a "What's in you Garden" swap I did about 10 years ago. There were enough swappers so there were just a few blocks. This was one of my favorites and I think it makes a great shopping bag.


Again - anothe swap - this one was "Holidays and the Seasons" so you could pick to do a season or a holiday. I made the turkey from Dresden Plate pattern. I had two of these left over from the swap so I made two bags like this one. It is a good use of orphan blocks - and a super way to have "green" shopping bags. My older ones are almost completely worn out.

Happy Quilting - I'm off to hem some napkins made from my hand painted fabrics on this rainy, cool day.