Midnight Oil

Sometimes you just have to burn some Midnight Oil…….to get in some

good stitching time.  Peace and quiet.  Alone time!

Tonight I just FINALLY had to get upstairs and have some time to stitch stitch stitch!  With the weather being extra warm here I've been spending a lot of time outside preparing garden space and such.  Oh man, I am SOOOOOO ready for garden goodies!!!

Yellow ovals shown here are reverse appliqué….I dread and usually put off these parts and I don't know why, it doesn't end up being as hard as I think it will be! 

This is block #6 out of 16.

Lucky me…..Erin Brockovich is on for my late night stitch fest.  I LOVE this movie!  I watch it every time it's on.  I know it by heart and can listen more than watch as I stitch away on my Friends of Baltimore blocks.

I prepare parts on some other blocks to take a break from too much stitching.

In another room upstairs where I'm burning the Midnight Oil is all the fabrics I have set aside for this particular Friends of Baltimore appliqué project. I have added MORE fabric selections since I took this photo.  

I DO pre-wash/soak with Synthrapol in HOT water before I cut out any of my appliqué pieces.

And if I stitch into the wee w-e-e hours and dare not disturb Goober dog or Hubby….there is a real comfy quilt adorned bed right behind where I'm stitching away I can slip into when needed…..doesn't happen often but when I do on occasion it does feel as if I'm on vacation!

OK…..my OIL is burning up and I shouldn't be wasteful with it!!!

Hhhmmm, I sure could use a snack…..wondering if I could tippee toe downstairs and snag something good to munch on without being found out…..or heard……

Oops! I Forgot To Share This Finish

I realized I hadn't shared my Butterfly quilt I finished way back in August.

This quilt was started a long time ago, back in 2010 with Amy over at Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts blog.

It started from a photo in a Japanese magazine and then became ALL the rage

here in blogland.
You can make one too, just click on Amy's link I provided above for her tutorial.

There are no 2 fabrics alike in this quilt, using ALL florals.   The brown I used for the butterfly background is a medium shade brown…..NOT the chocolate brown the photos show it.

Cloudy skies made photo taking difficult.

My butterflies are Wonky and kind of odd shaped…..on purpose of course!

I hand quilted it using the good ole standard Baptist Fan design.  Not knowing at the time I chose this
quilting design that it would give the butterflies GREAT MOVEMENT.  I can almost see their
little wings fluttering around all those flowers!!

Of course the backing  had to be floral too……right?
I did struggle with the binding FOR MONTHS!!  I hauled this quilt around with me to
every quilt shop I came across!
I dug dug dug in my stash……UNTIL I just finally decided to bind it with the same
backing fabric!
Yes, it works……why oh why do I make things so hard?!

I just gotta have it the way I gotta have it!!!

Measures 69" x 61"

Soooo, here it is!  This was the best photo I could get….of about 50 taken!
( well, it SEEMED like 50 )

The size of this quilt was determined by when I ran out of the brown background fabric for the butterflies.  In fact, there are a few brown backgrounds that are pieced, just
so I could get an even amount of blocks.

In person, this quilt is VERY light and soft looking.  It's EXACTLY the look and feel I was going for.  The photos do it NO JUSTICE.

No scraps were used or harmed during the making of this quilt.  Only fresh new fat quarters
were cut...coming straight from MY STASH!!!  LOL!

SEE YA'LL NEXT YEAR!!

One Word Wednesday

Butterfly

Butterfly Block Sewing

No fireworks here in my area this past weekend.....just Rain Rain Rain....about 5 inches at my house......BUT....I did jump into sewing up some of these cute little butterfly blocks I saw on Nedra's blog Cactus Needles. Nedra saw them on Amy's blog Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts . Amy then saw them on Choccy Bangles blog.......well.....you get the picture. Just giving credit where credit is due...Something that seems 'lacking' in some other bloggers. It's just good manners ladies!!!!

Butterflies are usually flitting around flowers aren't' they....sooooo, I chose floral print fabrics and I opted for chocolate brown for my background instead of the black. I love the black the other gals used but wanted to experiment with something different. I had decided I didn't like them at first...but the more I sewed up the better I liked them as a whole. I really like this pattern. Thanks sooooo much AMY for working out the pattern/tutorial for us!!!

Goober is growing and growing. He is waiting here for a scrap of fabric to fall to the floor so he can grab it and run!!!

...............He is just too funny!