Tula Pink Butterfly Quilt.

So, you better buckle up because I have quite the story to tell with this quilt.  Let's just say I will never have, in fact I do not have anymore deadline quilts! Just too stressful! Seriously.

So, this pattern is The Butterfly Quilt by Tula Pink.  I am a huge fan of Tula Pink, she is super talented and I was really excited to get a chance to quilt this particular quilt made by Linda from Canada.  Linda contacted me over a year ago and asked me to quilt this and of course I said yes!  She did a beautiful job with the piecing and I really loved that she had the top and bottom border the same color as the background fabric.  Tons of white space to play with.
    

Okay, so first things first.  This border - yes, I am insane because it took me forever and I didn't have all that time to quilt the entire quilt.  I love the design though - look for this design to be a class in the upcoming year or so.  I can't wait to share how I did this with my students.

I used two layers of batting, my favorite purple marking pen and my straight ruler to free motion quilt this design.  No computers here. ;-)

I thought about quilting a less dense filler to save time, but in the end my Fantabulous Filler made the cut.  I love how it turned out.  I used Fil-Tec Glide Pearl thread for the top thread and Magna Glide for the bobbin.  The thread works beautifully together.
 

I was going along great for the first part of the quilt.  Mind you I had 5 days to finish this quilt and get it shipped off in time for my client in time for a quilt show.  So, when my machine started to make a rather loud and obnoxious sound - I started to panic.  It was Tuesday when the sound started and throughout Wednesday and Thursday it worked, but I kept calling my dealer and friend Jen Alexander for help.  I am sure she started to get annoyed by my calls, but she was great. 

I went to bed Wednesday night praying that my machine would make it through this quilt, but on Thursday my machine completely stopped.  A last minute decision of desperation took me and the unfinished quilt with my machine head to Salt Lake, 4 hours north of Saint George.  I needed to finish the quilt by Saturday and luckily my mom's A1 longarm (the one I learned on) didn't have a quilt loaded and she let me use her machine.  Jen came and picked up my machine head and is currently working on it.  It needed the bearings replaced in the front of the machine.

Another reason for the desperation in finishing the quilt was that Clint and I had a Spring Break trip planned with the kids and we flew out the following Monday morning, so I had to have the quilt finished and packed, ready to ship before then.  Anyway - it was stressful.

I shared my progress on Instagram (@judiakagreenfairy) and I always laugh when my mom comments on my feed.  She is so funny!  Mom, you taught me everything I know - don't forget that!  Thanks for letting me use your machine. ;-)

Since the borders of the quilt do not go all the way around the quilt, I decided to change up the design on the sides and bottom.  The space was a little smaller - so this worked out fabulously.  I really love how it turned out.

The bottom border. Love.

I finished at 5:00 pm Saturday night.  It was just in time to get pictures, but I was running out of daylight and a place to take pictures.  My dad and brother helped me by placing quilts beneath and I got the best pictures I could for the circumstances.  This is my only regret about this quilt - the pictures, but I hope you know I did my best. 

My focus was on the backgound quilting and the quilting designs within the pieced butterfly were more simplistic.  I think it is a good balance and showcases the piecing, which is always important.

The butterfly needed antennas, badly.  I really love the straight line antenna that I came up with.  It goes with the straight lines throughout the quilting design.

I bordered the butterfly with a half inch border line around the entire butterfly.  The effect is beautiful.  This border is also beautiful.  ;-)

The texture is always my favorite part.

Since this is a butterfly quilt, I wanted to use my butterfly template from my book.  It works nicely as part of the filler design.

Fabulous.

Corner design.  I really love it. 

So, I have learned a few things from the process of the quilt.  No deadlines for me, it puts too much stress on me and my family.  I also learned that God answers my prayers in ways that are better for me.  I prayed that my quilt machine would finish the quilt out, but the reality is it wasn't going to.  I was able to visit my mom and dad to finish this quilt and it was a good thing that the machine stopped working on Thursday, not Saturday when I had a little to finish and no way to finish it in time. For that I am so grateful.

Anyway, I hope you like the quilt.  I am really proud of it, even though it was quite an event to finish.  Clint and I had a great time with our kids for spring break and now I am back to work.  I have shows to prepare for and the teaching circuit is right around the corner.  I am looking forward to meeting all of you who are attending my classes.