Terry Frey's jeweled butterly, a finished quilt

drumroll, please!

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

After 145 hours

 of cutting, sewing, pressing, and quilting,

a 4 day battle with bleeding dye,

lots of sweat,

maths

and even some tears,

we have a finished

one of a kind

quilt.

This quilt contains

117 different fabrics,

(many of them fussy cut)

2 battings

(Quilters Dream 100% wool on top of Pellon 80/20)

and 

6 different threads,

and is

- quite possibly -

the most epic quilt

I will ever make.

Terry contacted me Oct 23rd, 2018

and asked if she could commission me to make a butterfly quilt.

We messaged back and forth,

and it turned out

that what she really wanted

was a jewel-tone version 

of Tula Pink's butterfly quilt.

So that is what I set out to make.

I spent a little over a month searching for

and collecting fabrics,

and made my first block

on Nov 28th

Terry wanted me to 

'put my mark' on her quilt,

which I very much appreciated,

because,

as you all know,

I'm not so great with patterns in general.

And honestly,

I'm not the biggest fan of that particular pattern

(shhhhhh).

I bought the pattern,

but I took an awful lot of liberties with it 😉

(And then,

thanks to cutting mistakes,

bad maths,

and who knows what all,

I took several more liberties...🙄)

I swapped out blocks I wasn't crazy about

and replaced them with  a bunch of self-drafted ones

(and self-drafted versions of others)

that were either meaningful,

or would help me create the look I was aiming for,

for the butterfly.

At a glance,

the quilt looks like most of the other 

Tula Pink Butterfly quilts

but when you look more closely,

you can see I changed things up a good bit.

I worked in pairs,

making mirror images of each block,

and made the heart borders 

when we couldn't find a fabric that would work.

I finished the (3 sections) top

in mid-February.

I basted each side separately

because there was no way 

I was going to attempt to quilt

a queen-sized

double-batted quilt

on my domestic machine.

(little side note:

I thread basted one side

and that took for-e-ver,

so I spray basted the other.

The thread basted side has several small tucks and folds

quilted into the back.

So - unless you're hand-quilting,

I'd recommend spray basting with 505)

I started quilting the wing portions on February 26th

(doing my best to quilt mirror images on each side)

and finished them March 7th

We purchased an old longarm on March 8th.

For a few weeks,

I quilted the background fabric on my Janome

while also practicing quilting on the longarm.

Every time I finished a section of background,

I'd add hand quilting with silk button twist

 to outline the butterfly.

(Terry could take or leave the hand-quilting,

but I figured it wouldn't really have my mark on it

if I didn't add a least a little 😏)

Terry was in no rush for the quilt

and I had some other quilts that needed to be made

to celebrate a niece's graduation

and the arrival of a new nephew,

so I put hers on hold

while I worked on those.

Somewhere around that time,

my left shoulder started hurting really badly

and I had seriously reduced range of motion,

which made pushing that quilt

through a domestic machine near impossible.

It suddenly became really important

 to improve my longarm quilting,

because the longer my shoulder hurt,

the more I wanted to be able to finish the butterfly quilt

on the longarm.

So I focused on getting my longarms skills

on par with my domestic machine quilting skills.

Longarming was a little painful,

but not nearly as much as regular machine quilting,

and it had the benefit of being soooo much faster.

When my longarming was finally up to snuff,

I loaded up the unfinished side

and completed it amazingly fast,

and even achieved reasonably decent symmetry.

Then I joined the sides to the center

and finished the rest of the quilting

in just a few days.

(this color is soo wrong 😑 )

Because I quilted the remaining background so fast

I had lots of hand quilting to catch up on...

Then I made and attached the binding over the course of a few days,

and sewed it down with big stitches.

I finished the quilt on Tuesday, Nov 19th,

took a quick celebratory photo,

 and tossed it in the wash.

To my absolute horror,

it came out with pink splotches 

where there shouldn't have been any pink.

After many soaks and washings

it was restored to its proper glory on Friday.

Whew!

And now 

almost exactly one year after I started it,

Terry's Jeweled Butterfly

is finally ready

to go home.

💗

And I will be able to donate 3 sewing machines to Rahab's Rope,

and start saving for the next one 😁.

(You can find progress pictures

with  associated stories, whines, celebrations

and thought processes

  under the tag terrys jeweled butterfly quilt

(all one word though)

on Instagram)

Terry ~ this quilt is filled with love and hope and prayers

and fond memories.

Thanks for hiring me to make it for you 

and helping me save lives.

I love you!!

Star Bright, a finished quilt

When I started this one

I thought I could maybe piece the top

in a day.

It's only about 50 x 60 or so,

so it seemed doable.

It wasn't.

(at least for me....)

ah well.

I basically copied a quilt that 

Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting posted about a year ago,

except I added in feathers and onion peels and ribbon candy,

because I could.

(It wasn't all that long ago 

that I couldn't quilt any of those!)

The colored fabrics are all Kaleidoscope

by Allison Glass -

woven fabric

with different colored threads for the weft and weave.

To be honest,

I wasn't all that impressed.

I was expecting a much more shimmery and iridescent look,

but the two colors are only evident 

in a couple of them.

They'd probably be nice for bags,

but not worth the price for quilting.

Even though I'm not thrilled with the Kaleidoscope fabrics,

I'm quite thrilled with the quilt.

I think the quilting turned out pretty amazing,

if I do say so myself,

and it washed up quite nicely.

(I was pretty amazed when I pulled it out of the dryer.

I was like - I did this?!)

The wool batting 

with minky backing

(a throw size blanket that I bought on clearance 

for $5 a couple of years ago

for just this purpose)

make it extra scrumptious.

plus - the minky shows the quilting really well 

😊

My friend Karen

always says that thread matters,

and I repeated that to myself many times as I was quilting;

I really prefer a thread with a bit of shine to it.

I used a spool of Coats and Cotton quilting cotton thread

that I bought back when I started quilting,

and it's just dull.

 When I got to the border,

I switched to Aurifil 

 - still 100% cotton, 

but it has a tiny bit of sheen -

and I liked it much better.

Really, 

I think I like a 40 wt poly best.

But if I had a 50 wt poly,

that might be the very best.

It'd be thick enough to see,

but thin enough for travelling.

(do they make a 50 wt poly?)

Even with

dull thread 

and my displeasure with  kaleidoscope fabrics,

this one's a favorite.

love builds a home, a finished quilt

I have started this post so many times in my head,

but it never gets very far.

I think I need to begin

as things were before I ever started this quilt...

I keep a running list in my head,

and sometimes on Pinterest,

of what quilt I might make for which person.

Several years ago,

when my dad and Jeannie started
going to Arizona over the winter to help build houses,

I made a note to self

- 'house quilt for Dad' -

and when I'd happen upon one that I sort of liked,

I added it to my Pinterest board

so when it was their turn for a quilt,

I'd have some ideas to pull from.

And then, in Spring of 2016
 we started building our house,

and my dad sacrificed sooo much time

to help us build it,

and teach us how to build

(oh Y'all. I don't know if I can write this.)

and Jeannie sacrificed him,

so he could do that.

I knew that nothing on my Pinterest board was worthy.

There is very little in our house that Dad didn't have a hand in.

In October of 2016,

I invited Jeannie to go to the quilt show with me.

I figured it was something we could do together
 that we'd both enjoy,

but also

I wanted to be able to ascertain what sort of quilts she was drawn to

and what colors she'd like.

I'm sneaky like that :-)

I discovered that she had a preference for traditional styles,

and she liked a red and green color scheme

because at one point she said,

- and I remember where we were standing -

"I really like green and red quilts." 

and I thought,

"Well, that was easy."

As soon as I'd finished piecing Alicia's quilt,

I sat down and designed a couple of house quilts,

and texted photos to Marin,

whom I often bug with that sort of thing,

and asked her which one she thought was better for them.

She thought either would be fabulous

 - because she is so sweet 

she thinks everything I do is fabulous -

so I decided that I should make the more complicated quilt,

because that seemed only fair;

they'd helped so much!
And this was supposed to be a token of our gratitude, after all.

After settling on the design,

I drew up plans and cutting instructions for each different block,

(though my center house was an actual pattern

from a book by Lori Holt)

and even designed two different foundation paper piecing patterns

for the pine trees.

Even though Jeannie wanted green and red,

I didn't want the quilt to be Christmasy,
so I added in yellows and blues that would go in their house

and my 'reds' included a reeeeally wide range,

including pinks and corals.

I was still gathering fabrics when this was snapped

I collected scads of fabrics
(I used 170 of them)
because she'd told me once that she 'liked all the fabrics'

and made the first block July 25th, 2017.

I had hoped it would be a Christmas gift that year,

but,

as we were quite heavily involved in building an actual house

at the same time,

I knew that might not happen.

I had 2 commissioned projects that I was working on 

at the time, too,

and both of them had hard deadlines,

so they were top priority.

I diligently sewed every chance I got

but I didn't come close to finishing by Christmas.

I didn't even finish the top
by when we got together for Christmas,

which actually was in November, 

because they were going to AZ earlier than usual.

No worries.

We gave them a gift card for eating out,

and a certificate for the meal of their choice in our new kitchen

when they got back to Arkansas.

We would give them the quilt then.

I finished the top January 12th

and made the back the next day.

Then I basted it

and started the hand quilting.

I finished the hand quilting early-mid April.

and started machine quilting April 15th.

I'd stayed home from church that day,

and set up a temporary quilting station in the dining room
by laying a piece of melamine board on my portable massage table
(use what you got....)

I had to hit it fast and hard;

because they were coming for dinner in 12 days.
and we'd be camping for 4 of them.

Machine quilting was a nightmare.

You may remember my machine is not so great
with the free motion quilting....

To make matters worse

I chose 80 wt Invisifil thread.

I knew I'd be doing a good bit of traveling back and forth

 over stitched lines,

and Ronda just raves about the thread,

and she quilts beautifully,

so, of course, if I used what she used,

my quilting would be amazing too.

Or some such stupid logic.

80 wt thread is super thin,

and you can barely see it,

so I wasn't overly pleased with how the quilting looked

and my already contrary Juki hated the thread,

but I was so sure it was my best bet

for a beautiful quilt,

and I really wanted my dad's quilt to be extra beautiful.

Firstly,

because it truly was a tangible expression of our deep gratitude

for all of his help.
His help was superb; the quilt should be too.

But secondly because,

I'm still just a girl who wanted her dad
 to think she's pretty great.

And I wasn't so great with all the building stuff.

Oh sure, 

I run on about my badges,

and I did give it tremendous effort,
and even did a decent job for a middle-aged woman
who knew nothing about construction

but building a house isn't really my thing.

Quilts are my thing....

So I stupidly pressed on with the not pretty,

barely visible

(hello - INVISIfil)

giving me fits several times an hour thread.

After a few days of absolute fighting with the quilting,

the machine,

and ridiculously slow progress,

I knew there was no way I could be finished

by my second deadline.

Before they came for dinner on the 27th,
I folded the quilt 

and shoved it in a bag in my closet
and stuck it on the top shelf.

We showed them the work we'd done on the house

since they'd been here last,

and we played a few games.

And that was the last time I saw my dad

before the hospital.

 I never got to give him his quilt.

And yes - I am well aware that he couldn't care less about a quilt
now that he is heaven,
but it makes me sad all the same.

The quilt wasn't just for my dad,
it was for Jeannie, too,
so I needed to finish it.

And I did - slowly

My machine went back to the shop,
again,
and I bought a new machine
(who also does not care for 80 wt thread)

I worked on the quilt as my heart could handle it,
but there were many tears.

What began as a thank-you
turned into a tribute.

Though I'm unhappy with my thread choice,
I'm proud of the quilt.
I think it's some of my best work.

I sewed on the label on Oct 3rd.
Finally finished.

I put it in the local quilt show the first weekend of October.
For display only though - no judging.

And then
in a 'full circle' turn of events,
Jeannie texted me and said,
"I thought I'd come down and go to the quilt show"

So we went together.
And she saw their (now, her) quilt
for the first time.

This is where I'd normally say something nice to
and about the recipient,
but I am so so spent from writing this post
and I know Jeannie understands.
I love you, Jeannie. Hugs and scritches.