Challenge 2017 - #16 Brenda's Butterflies

I am a little behind in my Challenge 2017 posts, but I am getting projects finished. Brenda's Butterflies has been gifted, so I can share the story about it.

Last year I was working on the pattern instructions for a Disappearing 9-Patch quilt. When I write patterns I write in the hope that a beginner quilter can easily follow my instructions and have success. I have a friend, Brenda who considers herself a beginner quilter and offered to test the instructions for me.

The pattern is written for Fat Quarters, Yardage and Layer Cakes. Brenda and I went out shopping and she found a layer cake with Butterflies!

Brenda had no problems piecing the quilt and she gave it back to me with a few comments in the notes.

I had always planned to return the quilt to Brenda, once I had quilted it. I finally got around to loading it on my machine and then spent some time deciding how I would quilt butterflies all over it. I used a beige Fireside fleece for the backing and bamboo/cotton batting.

I found a lovely butterfly design on my Handi Quilter Pro-Stitcher and stitched out a Kaleidoscope of Butterflies. I rotated each butterfly as I stitched it out.

Did you know......A collective name for a group of butterflies is called a 'Kaleidoscope'. However others have called it a 'Swarm' or 'Rabble'.

I then filled the background with a lovely meander free-hand feather design.

The quilting really shows on the back.