Quilter’s Mixology – Butterflies

This post is part of the Quilter’s Mixology Sew Along. For schedule and full details, click here.

Today’s post is from Kaye from Miss Print. Kaye has written lots of quilting and cross stitch tutorials, and has been featured in a slew of magazines. Check out her blog for all the fun!

Hey y’all! I’m super-excited to be participating in this wonderful little sew along, and could not be happier that Sara and Angela asked me to contribute. Since Angela and I (and Ali too!) spent much of Quilt Market together, I got a sneak peak at A Quilter’s Mixology way back in May, and I must say that I find it just as beautiful and innovative now as I did then – that Angela is one talented lady!

I was asked to use the Butterflies pattern as my jumping off point, and decided to take one section of the quilt and turn it into a mini.

As you can see, the butterflies are scattered over the top, and so (even though I did a mini and not a full version) I was still able to get a good feel for making the curves, which guys, seriously, I have never done before! Curves have always scared me, but Angela’s method is awesome and I was able to do it! This is also the first item I made on my new sewing machine, a Janome 8900 my mum bought me for my birthday, so even with those two hurtles in my way, I was able to do it – see, not so scary after all, eh?

At the back of the book, Angela includes templates for cutting out the various sized curved pieces you’ll need. Considering that I cut mine out at one o’clock in the morning when I couldn’t sleep, and had no problems, I’d say the templates are excellent!

For the sake of utter honesty, I do have to admit that I found a small mistake in the instructions for piecing together the smaller butterflies to form their larger segments (figures 4 to 7). While there is no errata published yet, there will be.

I think the real beauty of this book is that it makes sewing curves so much less scary! While Angela has her own preference for how to sew them, she also demonstrates multiple other methods so that every quilter can find the way that suits them best. She also takes the drunkard’s path block and shows so many new and fresh ways to use and arrange it. Yep, that girl is one smart cookie!

Now, I’m not saying that everything I make is going to have curves from now on (hey, if you know me, you’ll know that I’m a masochist and will make anything that includes 1000 HSTs), but I definitely have my eye on Angela’s Nine Patch Curves Quilt and Paint Drips Quilt – absolutely gorgeous!