Sound Bites & Snap Shots

I can’t remember if she approached me or I approached her but Tina had seen the quilt I made for Laura after Wayne passed away.  Tina’s sister was dying of cancer and she too wanted a textile memory.  So when the time came to go through Marie’s things, I suggested Tina bring me back some memorable pieces and directed her to choose woven ones if possible. 

We started with a pair of red twill pants, three knit T-shirts, and a purple ribbed sweater.  Then we chose the pattern.  Butterflies strongly reminded Tina of her sister so I searched for quilt patterns in that motif on Pinterest.   She chose this one and I went from there. 

My start on the project was delayed but I finally attached the project with gusto a few months back.  I finished it and gave it to her almost exactly on the second anniversary of Marie’s death. 

Marie’s favorite color was red so that was the best choice for the butterfly.  Tina asked that we use the other pieces in the outer border and I suggested the ribbed sweater would give texture to the butterfly center.  I dug through my own fabric and found part of a fat quarter that incorporated all the colors perfectly.  I couldn’t have asked for a better complement to Marie’s wardrobe. 

The piece is 18” square.  All of the knits from Tina are backed with a fusible interfacing to offset the stretch. I wanted to the butterfly wings to have some zing so I echo quilted the shape from the outer part going in.  I tried using invisible thread at first but in the end, the white was a better choice.

The confetti pieces are stippled with a free motion squiggle

and the outer squares have matchstick quilting. Thank you, Amanda Jean, for that suggestion.

I’m pleased with all the texture in the quilting. As happy as I am with the finished piece, I did a hurdle to jump.  Not until I was hand stitching the binding on at the every end—the very last thing before singing “Ta Da,” I discovered that the quilting on one of my wings was not like the others and the one that was different was the one I preferred.  I went back and forth over whether or not to fix this and in the end, I decided that I wanted them to match.  This was risky because I didn’t know how picking out the quilting would effect the other areas. My seam ripper and I had quite the time and after multiple efforts, I had four evenly quilted wings.

On the back, I added little corner holders so Tina can slip a rod in and hang the quilt on her wall.

The final detail to highlight is the label.  I added it before I began the quilting so it is securely tucked in with all the stitches.

I am grateful for the chance to have created this quilt for Tina and thankful that I got to take a few leaps of faith with my quilting skills. The best part is that I know she loves it.