butterfly baby quilt

The quilt is done! It is now waiting to be wrapped up and taken to a baby shower next weekend. I knew I wanted a butterfly quilt and I knew I wanted to also use up my fabric stash. Those close to me know that I made a commitment this year to use up my ridiculous amount of fabric before purchasing any more. I am trying really hard to adopt the "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or go without" motto in my life and avoid excess. It is tough at times, but so far I've made a huge dent in my stash by either using it or donating it to folks that can use it.

I had a fat quarter pack from Moda's Celebrate Spring collection from, um....a long time ago. This fabric is so sweet and perfect for a Spring themed quilt.

I borrowed this adorable paper butterfly from the Pottery Barn Butterfly Wallies pack and used it as my pattern for my larger butterflies. You can also Google butterfly clip art and you will find hundreds of different butterfly patterns. For my smaller butterflies I used the Stampin' Up! die cut. I am in love with their shape. I ironed on the fusible webbing to help stabilize the fabric and then I just ran it right through my die cut machine. Anne Beale inspired me to use this after she showed me her adorable butterfly garland.

I then just appliqued them all on using a zig zag stitch (too much in a hurry to applique stitch all of them!) Thanks to my good friend Kayleen for helping me decide how to place them. I tried having them fly across the fabric (not so pretty) and then I tried a cluster of butterflies (really, really not so pretty-ugh). I finally decided to have them fly up and off the quilt--with a few flying off in a different direction. You know there are always a few that will do whatever they want no matter what everyone else is doing--hee!

Now that this is done, I am considering picking up some new fabric. Hey, I did use up what I had first, right? I also gave what I won't use to those that will, right? I am drooling over Moda's new Hunky Dory line and really want to make a quilt with little girl dresses. I'll keep you posted!