I shared the Flutterbye Butterflies pattern with Margery Tadder, an internet friend, a while ago. I asked her to keep it a secret until the book was closer to release. The book, 100 Whimsical Applique Designs, is available now for presale so it is time to share Margery’s Butterflies :-). I love it so much!
At long last, I’m sending a picture of my butterflies using your lovely Flutterbye pattern. I’ll be 93 December 1st and compared to some of my contemporaries, am doing wondrously well. After surviving a long bout of pneumonia and slowly regaining energy, am back out and about and grateful for it! I used the butterflies for a pillow. Am really happy how they turned out after a couple false starts.
Over the years I have saved family signatures thinking to use them in a quilt. It never happened but on the pillow back will trace the names of those who have passed away. It will be the perfect place.
This is my finished(yay!) Flutterbye pillow and also one of the back although it didn’t turn out as I had hoped. My plan was to scatter a number of signatures in a freeform way, but about went out of my tree trying to trace them so they didn’t look like a jumbled mess! After wasting a couple pieces of fabric, got serious and did a few the easiest way possible!
Love the butterflies and tulips and they are such pretty and cheery spot on this cold and snowy day! But what’s not to love about this darling pattern?! The pillow does need to be stuffed again as this form is too loose. You probably know the story…the Navajo women purposely make a mistake in their weavings so the gods won’t be angry because only the gods are allowed to be perfect. I tell you, if there are any Navajo gods looking down on my pillow they definitely aren’t mad! haha.
Thank you many times again, Becky, for your generosity and kindness, and Best Wishes to you and your family for a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Margery, thank you for sharing your pillow and the story to go with it. I think the signatures on the pillow back are perfect as they are and I’m not entirely sure that it needs more stuffing—but that is your call :-). I hope you keep right on stitching because it does bring joy, both in the doing and the finishing!
I often sit on a wood barstool to work. While I have natural padding, the seat is hard! I couldn’t find a more comfortable barstool or cushion but I ordered something in that came padded with two sheets of foam. Great!
After two months of sitting on plain foam I decided to make a ‘real’ cushion to fit the stool. This is not great foam, but it was free and here. I cut both pieces to fit the top of the stool.
Once I was sure the foam fit the seat, I cut fabric for the cushion top and Easyliner Grip shelf liner for the bottom, adding 1/2˝ seam allowance on all sides.
I sewed the fabric and Easyliner right sides together using my walking foot, a long-ish stitch length, and a scant 1/2˝ seam. The grippy stuff does not slide on the bed of the machine so sew with it on top. There isn’t fabric between the Easyliner and the foam. You could add fabric, but I couldn’t see the point. Leave an opening to insert the foam.
Getting the foam in place wasn’t exactly easy, but it was possible. I pinned the opening closed and whipped it shut by hand. I would have sewn it on the machine but decided that would be way more trouble than it was worth.
I thought about making this cushion for weeks. Why? After less than an hour I have a functional, cute cushion that will last a long time. I might eventually get fancy and purchase high density foam to make another one—but not today :-).
Take a look at the projects that you keep putting off. They might be like this… faster than you think and very grin-inducing!
Piece O Cake Blog 