These butterfly wings and bodies were purchased on ebay in 2002, along with the Crazy Baseball blocks used to make this quilt. I assume they were made by the same quilter, since several of the fabrics are the same. The newspapers on the back of the Baseball blocks were dated 1943, so I guess that’s about the age of the fabrics in these butterflies.
The quilter did not tack or pin the 2-pieced wings to the bodies, so I matched them up for her. I didn’t have to re-cut them — just basted, pinned and appliqued the wings & bodies onto plain muslin, then embroidered the outlines and antennaes. There weren’t enough blocks in the group for my bed — to make it larger, the blocks were zig-zag set with a reproduction print. Quilting was done around each butterfly, with details added in the wings and a floral pattern in the muslin. Vertical lines were quilted in the setting triangles which form the zig-zag. I added prairie points in a grayish-blue solid.
I don’t often use this much reproduction fabric in my quilts, but I do like the look of it — in fact, I just pulled this quilt out to use on my bed because the sun is shining and it’s feeling very springy outside today.
Appliqued Butterfly Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2003
hand appliqued, hand embroidered
machine pieced, hand quilted
84″ x 84″
