All-A-Flutter ~ Butterfly Mini Swap Quilt

Back in May the idea was tossed around about a mini quilt swap between the members of the three Modern Quilt Guilds in South Carolina, Greenville MQG (my guild), Palmetto MQG (Columbia) and Charleston MQG.

We will not be officially swapping our mini quilts until Saturday, so I will not reveal the details of my swap partner's likes and dislikes just yet.  But, I just finished All-A-Flutter since it was my One Monthly Goal for October.

The intersections were a little bulky and a doozie to match up so I resewed several.

I alternated the butterflies just like Rita at Red Pepper Quilts did in her quilt, but added in some negative space.  To be honest, I didn't want to make any more butterflies than I did.

For the quilting, I added some ruler work quilting to the wings using Patsy Thompson's 6.5 inch arc ruler and Aurifil 30wt in grey.

I drifted off the ruler a few times, so every curve is not perfect, but I remembered Angela Walter's mantra, 'A finished quilt is better than perfect quilt top'!

I used the 12 inch arc ruler for the background quilting.  The design reminds me of crossed canoes.

Knowing I needed to add a label, I decided frame an extra butterfly and piece it into the backing.  And, to be quite honest, I miscut the backing (Elizabeth Hartman's Firefly in Pickle) and matching fireflies was not going to be fun so I changed the direction of the fireflies.

I'm looking forward to meeting other SC MQG guild members when we swap quilt.  You can check out swap progress at #SCMQGswap.

Quilt Stats

• Finished size: 20" x 20" 
• Pattern: a modified version of Rita's (Red Pepper Quilts) Butterfly Blocks
• Fabrics: Sun Prints by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics
• Thread: Aurifil 50wt in Natural White 2021 for quilting background and Aurifil 30wt in Grey 2605 for quilting the butterflies   
• Quilting design: ruler work
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: October 29, 2018

Linking to the October Finish Link-up at Elm Street Quilts and Finish up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Modern Plus Sampler ➕ Transparency Block in Fandangle

A single Transparency Block was all we had to make this month for the Modern Plus Sampler Quilt. 

This rendering of the Transparency Block was made in EQ8 using Fandangle fabric designed by Christa Watson for Benartex Fabric.  

And, here is my Transparency Bock made from the actual fabric.  Almost exact, don't you think?  

You can find the instructions for October's Transparency Block here in this post.  And you can see Cheryl's Transparency block here.  

See you back on Thursday, November 1st for the next set of instructions for the Modern Plus Sampler Quilt.  

October One Monthly Goal ~ Butterfly Mini Quilt

I'm sliding in at the last minute to declare my October One Monthly Goal, a mini swap quilt made from butterfly blocks.  One Monthly Goal is hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

I've made two blocks and need twenty two more for the layout I have in mind.

I've always admired the butterfly quilt made by Rita from Red Pepper Quilts.   She has a butterfly block tutorial here for traditionally piecing the blocks.  I decided to draft paper foundations for a similar butterfly so they could be paper pieced.

And here are the fabrics I'll be using minus the pearl bracelets.


I better get busy, there are more butterflies to take flight!

You can see the other goal declarations in the October One Monthly Goal linkup at Elm Street Quilts.  

Modern Plus Sampler ➕ Transparency Plus Block

Welcome to the October instructions for the Modern Plus Sampler!

This month's instructions are very quick so that you still have more time to finish up the small plus signs from September.

Modern Plus Sampler

The Modern Plus Sampler will run from July 2018 until April 2019 with a set of directions revealed the first Thursday of every month. The quilt is a large lap sized quilt finishing at about 63" x 78".

The instructions are published within this post (right after these few announcements) and are available in an easy to print pdf format from the link below:

Modern Plus Sampler - Transparency Plus Block

Additionally, the directions and all of the other information related to the sampler quilt along can always be found on the Modern Plus Sampler QAL Page.

Social Media 
I encourage you to join the Cheryl's  Meadow Mist Designs Facebook Group(if you have not already).  There is now have over 3,300 members in the group and we are so excited to see your progress!

If you want some feedback on possible fabric choices or have any questions during the quilt along, the Facebook is an excellent resource.  You can find the Facebook Group right here.  Please share your progress pics on social media with the hashtag #ModernPlusSamplerQuilt and tag me at @QuiltedBlooms and Cheryl at @MeadowMistDesigns.

And now without further ado....October's instructions...


Transparency Plus Block

Note: The dimensions of the transparency plus block have been altered from the book to better fit the sampler design. 

Cutting Instructions

FABRIC B

Cut 1 strip 2 1/2" x WOF.
     1. Sub-cut the strip into 4 rectangles 2 1/2" x 5" and 4 squares 2" x 2".


   FABRIC D

Cut 1 strip 5" × WOF.
     1. Sub-cut the strip into 4 squares 5" x 5", 1 rectangle 2" x 5" and 2 squares 2" x 2".


   FABRIC E


Cut 1 strip 1 3/4" x WOF.
     1. Sub-cut the strip into 4 rectangles 1 3/4" x 5".


   FABRIC F

Cut 1 strip 1 3/4" x WOF. 

     1. Sub-cut the strip into 4 rectangles 1 3/4" x 5".


Piecing Instructions

Use the Transparency Chains pattern instructions on pages 90-95. Regular piecing (instead of strip piecing) will be used as only one block is being pieced.

1. Sew 4 fabric B squares 2" x 2", 1 fabric D rectangle 2" x 5", and 2 fabric D squares 2" x 2" together to make a plus unit 5" x 5".

2. Sew 1 fabric B rectangle 2 1/2" x 5", 1 fabric E rectangle 1 3/4" x 5", and 1 fabric F rectangle 1 3/4" x 5" together to make a striped unit 5" x 5". Repeat to make 4 striped units.

3. Sew the plus unit, 4 striped units, and 4 fabric D squares 5" x 5" to make the transparency block 14" x 14".

Note:  The original design has only one transparency plus block, but you are welcome to make additional blocks if you would like to replace some of the applique and/or paper pieced blocks in the quilt top.

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of the Modern Plus Sampler!

Honey, Bunny, and Doll | Sew Fresh Quilts | Make Modern | Aurifil

Cooking Up Quilts | Quilting Jetgirl | Quilter's Planner

Needle & Foot | Fat Quarter Shop | BackSide Fabrics | Whims and Fancies

Meadow Mist Designs | Tish's Adventures in Wonderland | Busy Hands Quilts | C&T Publishing

The next set of instructions will be published on the first Thursday of November (the 1st).

➕➕

Modern Plus Sampler ➕ Small Plus Signs

This month, for the Modern Plus Sampler Quilt, we are piecing lots of little plus signs...40 to be exact.  I'm making mine from Paper Cuts, a fun tone-on-tone print which is from Christa's Fandangle fabric line.

And, while they are not difficult to make, they do take a little time. Unfinished, the small plus signs measure 5" x 5".

I decided to use the instructions for making over-sized signature blocks on page 38 of the book (Modern Plus Sign Quilts) and then trim them down to size.

Here's what my blocks look like before they are trimmed down to size.  They measure 5 1/2" x 5 1/5" at this point.

I used a 6 1/2" square-up ruler to do the trimming.  Do you see how the plus signs fit perfectly within a 3" x 3" grid making them a breeze to trim down to size.

Roughly, a 1/4" was trimmed from two sides.

The block was rotated so the other two sides could be trimmed.

And, here's the small signature plus block all trimmed to 5" x 5".

As a refresher, here is the Modern Plus Sampler rendered in Fandangle.  And, it's not too late to join in and sew along with Cheryl (Meadow Mist Designs) and me.  We are going at a nice slow place.  You can easily catch up as next month's instructions are super easy!

You can find all the details on the the Modern Plus Sampler Quilt a Long page.  The next set of instructions will posted on Thursday, October 4th.