Today is the second stop of the Blog Tour and I am so excited to finally share my project from Kelly’s book. This is the first time participating in a book blog tour and even made more extra special because I am a big fan of
Kelly’s patterns having made five quilts and at least two more in the planning stage. I already have her
Stash Statement book and have been looking forward to this book and I will tell you it was worth the wait.
All of the participants in the Blog Tour were able to chose their projects from the 22 mini quilts featured in the book and I was happy with my choice of Flutter which is in the Single Block Beauties section. The description for this section is sew apropos:
“If you’re new to the improv game, single-block quilts are a great way to start playing with the process. Whether the improv pieces are color-controlled designs or multi-color explosions, whether they’re in the background or featured in the block units, a single focal point is a great way to make a big impact with just a little effort.”
The only improv piecing I’ve done was making Scrap Vortex quilts but never made improv panels specifically to make pieced blocks so I was up for this new challenge, especially with all of the scraps I keep on accumulating.
Before I started making Flutter, I had to decide on a color so I did some research on this website:
https://www.color-meanings.com/butterfly-color-meanings-and-symbolism/.
As I read the symbolic means of Butterfly Colors section, I knew my Flutter needed to be Blue:
“A person who sees a blue butterfly is believed to be very lucky. It is thought to be our departed ones speaking to us. It can also be viewed as a divine intervention of God or higher power”
I lost a very, very dear friend, Nancy, this year, whom I worked with for many years and stayed in touch with after I left the company in 1997. To say she was one of the most loveliest and kind hearted person I’ve every known is nowhere near how I feel about her and am just very grateful she was once part of my life. What saddens me the most is that with all of the traveling and happenings of last year, I missed our annual catching-up call of which I feel so guilty. Even if I knew she was ill, I wouldn’t have been able to see her because of COVID restrictions but how I wished I could have spoken to her to hear her sweet voice again. My Flutter Quilt is perfect for my remembrance of Nancy and the joy she brought to my life and others and will be hanging it in a spot where I will be reminded of her everyday.
Kelly gives very clear and concise instructions on how to make the improv panels. I made sure none of my patches, mostly C+S and Carrie Bloomston scraps, were less than 1”wide. Even though these panels can easily be made with just strips and squares, I knew I had to add an angled strip which you can see on the left side since I planned on using it for the wing patches.
Unfortunately, there was a problem once I cut the two patches since both of them were angled in the same direction and it needed to be opposite in order for the wings to be emphasized. I may have broken the que’ sera, sera rule of this improv technique but you can see what I did by reworking the left patch which may be a little controlling but I knew it would look better.
Once the patches were cut, assembling was fast and easy thanks to paying close attention to the instructions. Can you see the stain glass effect this improv technique has especially using Kim Schaefer’s Black and White Pick Up Sticks for the background?
I liked that I was able to quilt Flutter with my latest favorite way to machine quilt—quadrant straight-line and it’s so easy once you draw the X across the block.
Having already made several mini or small quilts this year, Flutter was a quick, easy and satisfying make. I have to mention that Flutter was a Finally Finish more than a month before the start of the blog tour for several good reasons:
- In 2018, I participated in Kelly’s Classic Meet Modern QAL and towards the end of the year, I fractured my left knee while on vacation, so I was unable to keep up with the monthly blocks for several months. Not to tempt fate or a repeat of another “trip” while hiking, I wanted to make sure Flutter was ready for the Book Blog Tour before we left for Steamboat Springs at the end of August
- I knew we would be visiting Yampa River Botanic Garden while on vacation which would be the most perfect setting to take photos of Flutter
Flutter measures 14”x20” and the perfect size to hang it from a tree or trellis, lay it on a rock or by a sculpture. I even found a spot where there was a sign which included the name “Nancy”.
My most favorite photo of all from the Botanic Garden is this one which the Master Quilt Holder demonstrated his agility of hiding behind the sculpture named “The Joy of Life”. Those fingers you see holding Flutter, I’m saying they are golden butterflies which magically appeared to hold the quilt up.
As I was walking through the garden, I thought it would be a wonderful setting to showcase all of the mini quilts featured in the book. There are so many places I could see them hanging or lying around. I’m even thinking of using a garden flag stand holder to hang future minis on my front porch. BTW, my tour cohort for today is
Diann, Little Penguin Quilts and will be featuring her quilt Botanics, (which is the one of the quilts I want to make), lives in Colorado. I thought it would be fun for us to meet up to take a photo of our quilts together, but didn’t, because I didn’t want to put any pressure on Diann in case she wasn’t ready—she already knows me as being a little crazy when it comes to taking photos of quilts outside.
Thank you Kelly for inviting me to participate in this fun blog tour and for writing another wonderful quilt book—the “teacher” in you really shines in this book and may I say that the size of it reminds me of the workbooks I used when I was once a wee little schoolgirl. Thanks for stopping by to read this post and hope you read the other
Participants’ posts on their scheduled days. Also, if you already haven’t, I hope you will be inspired to purchase
Scrappy Improv QUILTING (not an affiliate link). I can truly say there will be more than one mini quilt you will want to make for your home or office to remember a special day or holiday or even a special person in your life.
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