Butterflies in Quilts

Occasionally quilters are presented with an opportunity to finish another quilter's project.

After I had been making quilts for several years, my mother-in-law presented me with a stack of butterfly quilt blocks that she had made in the 1930s when she was about 10 years old.

These are appliqué blocks. The 1/4 inch seam allowances are turned under and the butterfly wings and bodies are secured with embroidery floss in fairly long running stitches.

Each butterfly is made from different fabric. The upper wings have been made from a print and the lower wings from a solid fabric that coordinates with the upper wings. The bodies are a print and have been appliquéd on top of the wings, but not secured with the embroidery floss.

These quilt blocks hung around my house for several months before I finally decided what to do with them.

Christmas was coming, and she had 5 grandchildren. One of her sons had just gotten married and had no children yet. So, I decided to divide the blocks up as evenly as I could and make a quilt for each grandchild and one for the son and his wife who didn't have children yet.

Christmas morning was exciting. I had been able to keep the surprise from her as well as all of my brothers and sisters-in-law. It was great fun to have made a quilt that spanned three generations - from grandmother to grandchildren.

Members of TheQuiltingCoach.com can get more details about the project as well as the pattern for the butterflies - for free!

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
www.How-to-Quilt.com
Specializing in Information for Beginning Quilters

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