Our Day – Show Your Wings Blog Hop

Our friend Carol at Just Let Me Quilt is hosting a blog hop.   It’s called Show Your Wings Blog Hop, and it started on February 18 and runs through the 21st.

We are excited to join in, and we designed a little wall hanging for our front door.  We call it Butterfly Welcome, and there is the free pattern for you.  Just click this link:  Butterfly Welcome.  Let me give you all the details about this wall hanging and then set you free to go visit our participating friends listed below!

Wings Tease

A while back, Lori from Quilting Needs sent us a charm pack of Kaffe prints called Rowan.  When Carol announced this blog hop and its theme, butterflies came to mind right away.  I knew this charm pack would hold just the perfect prints for some delicate butterfly friends.  The butterfly as a symbol of the soul is what early Christianity believed.  To Native Americans, it is a symbol of change, joy and color.  It was considered a miracle of transformation and resurrection.  Finally, ancient Greeks believed that butterflies were the souls of the departed.  Furthermore, if the first butterfly you see for the year is white, you will have good luck all through the year.  Above, the photo on the left is a closeup of several fabric wings.  On the right is a look at the buttonhole stitch used to raw-edge appliqué a wing to the background. 

Prior to Wings

Before I did post the two photos on Instagram, some prep took place.  On the back of the six selected butterfly fabrics, I used the template and traced the outline on the reverse side.  Amazingly enough, this is a pattern that I drew quickly in EQ8 and printed out.  I started with a simple heart shape, elongated it and then added a reverse duplicate shape to create the butterfly.  You’ll find the template in our pattern (link above).  We sized the template for a 5″ charm pack block.  You could easily enlarge it if you prefer a larger size.  

Wings Appliqué Complete

Once the six butterflies were placed and appliqued, it was time for the fun to begin.  Scrap batting and a backing was chosen strictly by size, and the layering ensued.  Sue suggested the quilting pattern – a meander to replicate the path a butterfly would take flitting from flower to flower.  So, keeping the flitting in mind, I quilted a meander on a small scale.  Some little loops were included – anything goes when flitting, right?!

Two – three inch squares were ironed on the diagonal and pinned in each corner for a hanging tab.  This idea was originally shared by Karen at Tu-Na Quilts, and I have more detailed instructions in our Tutorial and A Pineapple Welcome Mini post.  I didn’t tack them down before adding the binding this time and it still turned out fine.  That 3″ size square is just the right size for this dowel hanger.

Wings Ta-Da

Here is our finished Butterfly Welcome piece and pattern.  If you make your own, we would LOVE to see it!

Here is a list of all of the participants!  Check out all of the fabulous Show Your Wings projects:

February 18

February 19

February 20

February 21

Our other Linky Parties can be found by clicking the link above or along the sidebar on our website for more quilting fun – check out what our friends are up to.  Like/follow us on our Facebook page and you can share your photos of what you’re working on.  We would love to see them!