Butterflies are in abundance with the summer flowers blooming.  They’re beautiful, but you need to look quick to enjoy.  Now, a butterfly quilt, that’s a different story.  Not flitting away, but always there for your viewning pleasure!

Grab your colorful scraps for Butterfly Baskets.  Shown here in repro fabrics, this would also look great in batiks, or in any bright fabrics.  Instructions are included for a pillow.

Butterfly Town is a little bolder.  12″ blocks make this a fairly quick and easy quilt.  Three sizes are included: baby, lap, or bed.

The Heirloom Buttefly-Flower is pre-printed and pre-colored.  Just add embroidery!  This makes a great take-along project.

With a strip pieced background and raw edge fusible applique, Bertie the Butterfly has lots of personality.  Several of these 9″x11″ quilts would really brighten up the wall of a little girl’s room.  Hmm…. might look pretty good in the sewing room, too!

There are two size options for the Oriental Butterfly wallhanging: 18″ x40″ and 26″ x 59″, plus a pillow pattern.  The petal edging looks fluttery, doesn’t it?  Perfect for a butterfly pillow.

They are square dancing, doing the Butterfly Doe-Si-Doe!  Two simple blocks combine to great the butterfly look.  All piecing – no applieque.  Dig out those colorful scraps.

This link will take you to more Butterfly patterns and Butterfly fabric.

We’ll close with an Irish blessing…

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness, and riches
Today, tomorrow, and beyond.

We have so many options for you when you are purchasing Quilters Dream Batting. 

Lots of sizes:

Craft                     46″ x 36″
Crib                      46″ x 60″
Throw                 60″ x 60″
Twin                     93″ x 72″
Double                93″ x 96″
Queen               108″ x 93″
Super Queen  122″ x 93″
King size          122″ x 122″
Table Runner (18″ wide) is sold by the yard.

 You have your choice of fiber:

Cotton for the purist in you.  Made from the finest USA cotton. Quilt up to 8″ apart.

Polyester batting is very resistant to wrinkles, creases, and fold lines.  Quilt up to 8″ apart.

Green batting is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.   Scrim and resin free; quilt up to 12″ apart.

Orient is a blend of bamboo, silk, Tencel®, and cotton giving an elegant silky, soft drape.  Quilt up to 8 ” apart.

Blend, 70% cotton and 30% poly are specially blended and combined to create perfect machine quilting batting. 

Then choose the loft.  Request is the thinnest loft.  It’s great for hand quilting or machine quilting.  Select is mid-loft and is perfect for hand quilting, machine quilting, or crafts.

And now you can choose to buy just one, or buy your batting by the case.   Cotton Select, Poly Select and Request, and Dream are all available by the case.   Stock up and save!  It might be handy to have a case on hand for all those Christmas projects.  Buy one of the larger sizes and you can always cut it down for smaller projects. 

One more option – Poly Select and Poly Request are not only available in white, but also in black. 

So many choices!  Whatever you may need in the way of batting, we’re sure to have it!

The Creative Grids 60° Triangle Ruler makes short work of lots of interesting blocks.  This 16″ table topper went together quickly and easily.  And I want to make more!

You’ll need just 4″ each of background fabric and two fun fabrics. Let’s call the fun fabrics FF1 and FF2.

Background:  Cut 2 strips 1.5″ x WOF;  1 strip 1″ x WOF
Fun fabrics:  Cut 2 strips each 2″ x WOF

Sew all the strips together in the following order:
FF1
Wide background
FF2
Skinny background
FF1
Wide background
FF2         

(cutting instructions revised 07/11/12 8:25)

Press all seams in one direction so they will nest when you sew your triangles together.  They will; you’ll see.

Line up the bottom of the 60° Triangle Ruler with the bottom of your strip set, and make your first cut. 

 Turn your strip set the other way and lay the ruler the way it was, the ruler is now lined up with the top and the left side of the ruler is lined up with the first cut you made.  Cut the last side of your first triangle.

Rotate your ruler. Cut.

Rotate. Cut.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

You’ll need six triangles.  There will be three with FF1 at the base, and three with FF2 at the base.

Arrange your triangles in a circle (okay, a hexagon), alternating the colors.

Sew together.  If you make sure the seams nest everything will line up nicely.  Be careful not to pull too much or manhandle the edges as they are cut on the bias.  Press the seams all one way around the “circle” so when you sew the last seam everything will nest nicely.

Finished! All ready to sandwich and quilt.
Fast. Easy. Addictive.
Happy sewing!

Oh! And don’t forget to enter our Pinterest Contest!

Have you ever used a Quilt Kit?  While it’s more creative to make your own fabric choices, or even to design your own quilt, quilt kits certainly have their place.  They provide a jump start to a project.  You know how (beautiful) it’s going to look when you are finished.  And they speed up the process.  Well, sometimes.  And sometimes they are long projects themselves.  We have dozens of kits available, from the quick and easy to the more intricate, months-long quilts.

You’ll be Sittin’ Pretty at mealtime with these lovely placemats by Black Cat Creations.  The kit includes the pattern and all the fabric needed to make six placemats, including the backing.  The only other thing you’ll need is the backing.  This patterns works well with charm packs so you’ll probably make more than one set!

Flannel Pals Baby Quilts are unique in that not only are all the fabrics included, but they have also been cut already!  You’ll get the pattern (quick and easy), all the quilt block pieces, the border, the binding, and color coordinated backing.   An easy way to make a from the heart and hands baby shower gift.  Also available in pink colorway.

Here’s another kit that is great for gift giving.  This Photo Collage Quilt Kit is available in several colorways, making it appropriate for baby showers, graduations, anniversaries, and weddings. Kit includes the instructions, all the fabric, and the batting.  Just add thread!

If you have a little more time to invest, Stars In Granny’s Garden has a big beautiful payoff.  This Lemoyne Star quilt is easy to piece. It has a scrappy look, but you don’t have to do any digging in your scrap pile!    

Check out the rest of the quilt kits – you’ll be sure to find a few that you like.

Are you a horse lover?  Do you know one?  Seems most teenage girls, and some boys, at some point fall in love with horses.  And some stay that way all their lives.  I know this from personal experience!

So, a horse-y quilt may be in order!  And we have horse-y fabric…

For the youngest of horse lovers (or young at heart!) use Painted Ponies Carousel Horses.  There are four colorful coordinating fabrics.  This works for babies as well as little girls. 

More ‘mature’ horse enthusiasts will enjoy the Horsin’ Around Quilt panel.  You could fussy cut these to fit any block style quilt; or just use the panel, add borders and call it done.

 Horsin’ Around Green would make a great background, border, or backing for any horse themed quilt.

All the cowboy accessories are found in Best West Sky quilt fabric, with such a pretty shade of blue for the background.

This Horse Stained Glass pattern could be personalized by changing the colors of the horse and adding the horse’s name to the board he’s standing behind. 

You don’t have to be a horse lover to appreciate the beauty of Horse Parade.

Check out the rest of the horse themed fabrics and patterns and have fun horsing around!