Math and Butterflies

 

 Several years ago, I saw a quilt on-line that I couldn't figure out.  Typically, I can separate the blocks out and have a general understanding of how it is made.  This one confused me.  I shared it with Mr-math-is-my-thing and told him it made my head hurt.  He looked at it for approximately one-seventybillionth of a second and said "This is easy.  Get me some fabric".  

I happened to have 4 yards of mostly coordinating fabric I bought at a going out of business sale.  (I'm not sure why I bought them.  They are not my usual or even my unusual style.)  Mr-give-me-a-ruler-and-a-rotary-cutter stacked them all up into one pile and started cutting.  In short order we had a big pile of fabric pieces.  We had to tack an old flannel sheet onto the wall to try and arrange them.  It took some doing.  What made sense in theory wasn't quite as simple in practice.  

 

Eventually we got them all laid out properly.  Well, not exactly properly.  We actually did a few swaps to make it more interesting.  But that is pretty much SOP around here.  Above is the picture I took to help us keep it straight.  

I eventually managed to get it all stitched together, matching most of my corners.  It was a decent quilt top.  It also deserved better quilting than I could manage at the time.  I knew it needed more than straight lines.  I hadn't yet learned about FMQ and I couldn't afford to send it off to the Longarmer.  So it has languished on my WIP list for years.  

Eventually, I figured out that I could quilt it using my embroidery machine.  I bought a design and had the perfect thread.  Of course I needed backing.  at 47 inches on a side it is just a wee bit too wide for the standard yardage I bought.  Of course, I didn't buy enough figuring that it would fit.  So it languished on the WIP pile for another year or so.  

 

Finally determined to finish it, I pulled out the original backing fabric and gave it to Mr-there-is-enough-fabric-here-in-theory-let-me-figure-it-out.  While he was figuring out I was correct... well technically he was right, there was enough fabric but the piecing would be a nightmare... I went back through my stash.  I grabbed a piece of fabric every quilter who has ever made it through the IKEA maze has used as a backing:  the big number fabric.  And TA! DA!  Finished quilt.

  

Well, it wasn't quite that easy.  I had trouble orienting and hooping the fabric.  I had trouble with my machine.  I had trouble with the thread breaking.  But finally last week, I decided it was time to git 'er done.  Finished the quilting and today I was able to put on the binding on.

 I know that technically it isn't finished.  The binding needs to be hand stitched.  But I promised Mr-I-can-stitch-the-binding-and-that-one-is-less-than-a-football-game that he could do it.  So, technically I am finished with this WIP and can cross it off a multitude of lists!

The details:

47 x 47 inches.  Made from Quilters Cotton in sage green and black.  Backing from IKEA.  Polyester batting.  Machine pieced.  Embroidered quilting.