# butterfly and lace crazy quilt



## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I picked up a lot of vintage lace at an estate sale last year, and I finally got around to doing something with it.

I spent last night selecting what I wanted to use. I have quite a few "butterfly" fabrics, and decided I'd use one of them with the blocks. I also love sparkly fabric, so I'm using some of that too. I'd also picked up some sheer curtains to use for a project like this. Add some laces and ribbons and trims . . . 





























I started out cutting the base blocks. I cut them at 11" so I could get 4 across. I figure I can trim them down to 10.5" later, and this would give me a bit of wiggle room if needed. I ended up with 36 blocks. I'm not sure how many I'll want to do, but I can always cut more. 










Then I cut out the butterflies - so I'll have one per block. I used a bit over half my butterfly fabric.



















Then I just started playing. I did look online for basic block layout, but I didn't really plan these like one should. 

I got four done this morning. They will get more trim and embellishments - not sure if I want to do any hand work on them. I'll get them all pieced and then decide. This is going to be a "WISP" - work in slow progress - for a long time. It will be fun for when I just want to be "girly" and play with ribbon and lace for a while.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

I absolutely love this heirloom you are making.


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## roadless (Sep 9, 2006)

How wonderfully creative and beautiful.


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## Goatsandsheep (Jun 7, 2006)

Beautiful!!!!!


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## grannygardner (May 4, 2005)

Those are gorgeous. Please continue to share pictures of the blocks you're making, along with the completed quilt.


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## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

Can't wait to see it all done! Keep up the good work......


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## sss3 (Jul 15, 2007)

How beautiful. I, too, can't wait to see it finished.


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

That will be a true treasure!


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

Love it....beautiful


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## Squeaky McMurdo (Apr 19, 2012)

Gorgeous


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

I have to agree gorgeous, beautiful, a true treasure. I especially loved the last block although all are beautiful. That butterfly fabric is really special and I love the way having one in each block pulls all together.


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

Oh WOW! I love this. I'd love to do this someday.


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## Peggy (Feb 14, 2010)

absolutely lovely!!


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Here are three more. They are very fun - but three in a day is about all I want to tackle (ok, so I have a full time job too).


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## PonderosaQ (Jan 12, 2004)

Can't wait to see this evolve.Absolutely gorgeous heirloom work.


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## HorseMom (Jul 31, 2005)

Very neat! I an in LOVE with the fabric in Piston #14, top block, top left corner! Any info on it?
Thanks
Heidi


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## maxine (Jun 22, 2004)

Wow!! Gorgeous!


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Heidi - I love that one too! It's quite metallic.

This shows the pattern









But this one shows the color better - it's a dark gold/black pattern. I took this picture to avoid having to write down the info on the salvage










I think I bought this from Hobby Lobby - and I know I bought it less than a year ago.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Three more done.




























And all 10 together. I was thinking of maybe putting them on a diagonal with sashing, but after laying them out, i think square would look better. There are enough diagonal lines already, it won't need more LOL


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## MamaTiger (Jun 11, 2008)

That is absolutely gorgeous!


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## HorseMom (Jul 31, 2005)

Macybaby said:


> Heidi - I love that one too! It's quite metallic.
> 
> I think I bought this from Hobby Lobby - and I know I bought it less than a year ago.


I guess I shouldn't be surprised it's by Robert Kaufman, I seem to love everything they put out! Thanks for info!
Heidi


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Here's where I am so far - 25 blocks done. My plan is to make it 6 blocks by 6 blocks.










I was planning on putting sashing between them, but after laying them out both ways, I'm starting to think going without sashing might look more interesting - let me know what you think. 










I was thinking I'd just to a striped scrap boarder, 4" all the way around. Though if I went with sashing them maybe I'd go with a plain boarder the same as the sashing. 

I was thinking of quilting them up individually, and then sashing them and putting them on the long arm with a second layer of batting and then doing very minimal quilting - have no idea if that would be a good idea or not. Mostly I was thinking of a way to FMQ them individually. I'm very much a novice there - I've sewn for ages but machine quilting is new for me. 

This is the one I already quilted - used my 1932 Singer 15.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

This is really, really neat. I like what you are doing A LOT.

I'm sure you've inspired others to do something similar.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Oh, those are absolutely gorgeous. I love butterflies and have some fabric, but never thought of putting them on a crazy quilt. I can't say enough good things about what you are doing. BTW, I vote for no sashing -- it seems to detract from the overall pattern.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I've been saving butterfly fabric - no idea what I'd do with it but I buy a yard of it when I find it. 

I hope this does give ideas to others. I get so many good ideas by looking at pictures others have posted. 

Here are 6 more blocks completed - so I've got five more to go. 










I've still got plenty of lace and trim left - and this took a turn on me when I decided to put the butterflies in it - my original plan was to use all creams/whites/beige. I've put together 25 different fat quarters of fabric in graduated tones - and I pile of lace to go with it. That may stay put away for a while. I have not decided if I want to do another crazy quilt, or something with an actual pattern. 

I did see one I liked, it was 6" squares with only 2-3 fabrics per square. Much more subdued overall, which is what I'd be going for.


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## Squeaky McMurdo (Apr 19, 2012)

At first, I didn't like the one with nothing between the blocks, but the more I look at it, the more it has grown on me and looks like a page out of an I-Spy book


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

Beautiful blocks, but dang girl! For something that's supposed to be a slow project, you're going pretty darn fast!

What you're doing is the "quilt as you go" method, in case you are not familiar with the term. Here's one example:

[YOUTUBE]watch?v=I_qyb7XxY4k[/YOUTUBE]


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Thanks for the video.

I've heard the "quilt as you go" but never saw how you joined the blocks before. I think I'd sew the blocks into strips first and then quilt them as a row.

Though I also think it would be really good practice to sew it all together and put in on my frame. And I really do need more practice with my Bailey. 

But it would also be fun to quilt them one at a time with FMQ - two different ways and both are fun! 

I had expected to take longer, but I got another idea for the lace, so I needed to get this done to see what I'd have left over. 

I also want to make a "princess" quilt now. The main blocks would be applique of a fancy full skirt using the laces and trims, and then embroidery for the upper bodice. And then intermix them with some strip blocks put together to look like castles. 

And then for something completely different. I bought 8 lead shot bags at a gun show ($15 total). Opened up, they are about 12" square and I'll use camo fabric in between to make a wall hanging for DH's work room.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Got the blocks sewn together. 










I need ideas for the boarder. I may have enough of a few of the prints to do a narrow solid border, but not much. I do have plenty enough to make some sort of "scrappy" border. 

hmm- maybe a couple of narrow solid rows to differentiate the center, and then a scrappy boarder outside that to finish. I could also put more butterflies in the border - not sure if I want to put more lace. If I did I'd stick to the plainer stuff, I have a lot of the white, beige, rose and blue.

This is about 60x60, do you think I should add borders to make it more rectangular? I don't have any plans for what it would be used for.


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

Very pretty! I wish all of my slow projects would go as quick as yours.  I might get some of them done then.

As far as borders, I'm a big fan of framing a busy center with black. In this case, maybe a dark blue. It helps to contain it and gives your eyes a place to rest.

Maybe a border something like this?


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

that is way cool and it's giving me too many ideas.


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

Here the the top - ready for quilting. I really did expect this would take a lot longer. I think I just got excited about how each block looked and wanting to see what the next one would turn out like - I kept at it a lot more than I should. I should have been working on my OBW quilt for my bed. I've got half the blocks sewn into rows and the rest pinned together waiting.

This is going on my frame soon- my Micro handles and ruler foot should show up in the mail today and I'm looking forward to learning how to use them. I'm very much a novice on the quilting part, and this quilt will hide all sorts of mistakes LOL!!



















While often quilts look better in pictures, this one is way prettier in person, the colors are predominately rose (not pink) blue/turquoise and Gold/cream. My monitor makes everything a bit orangish (strong on the "ish" part). 

I was going to do a border just like Terri posted, and then I really liked the dark next to the quilt. I didn't have enough fabric so decided it would work to piece the border. Once I realized that would work, I pieced in for the others and came up with my rows. Then I added more butterflies!



















The final stripe will get folded to the back for a self binding when this is done.


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## ELOCN (Jun 13, 2004)

Beautiful. I love that butterfly fabric.


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## grannygardner (May 4, 2005)

The quilt is gorgeous.


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## Marsha (May 11, 2002)

Very Pretty!


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