Flutter by Butterfly

When I first started planning this block I was all “April showers bring May flowers”. That would take care of two months of blocks!

But that’s not really a true statement for where I live.  I just saw on a weather forecast that April is the driest month of the year in Florida.  So no rain (unless I’m having a wedding in my backyard–then it definitely will rain in April) and the flowers are already blooming.

Which is what I love about April.  The weather is lovely, the flowers are young and beautiful, and the butterflies are back.

So, of course, I wanted to make a butterfly block for this month.

I checked out butterfly quilt blocks on Pinterest and didn’t really like them.  Most were paper-pieced.  And I have NO idea what that means or even where to start!

So I made my own pieced block.  I actually used a photo of a butterfly.  And really like how it turned out.

I’ve been working on this post since last Sunday.  Thinking every day that I’d finally be able to publish it.  But those measurements!  I have double and even triple checked the sizes and instructions.

And I finally decided that it’s ready to go!

Here’s how I did it!

HST stands for Half Square Triangle.

                   CUT

Color 1       2          3 1/2” x 3 1/2”

Color 1       1          3 7/8” x 3 7/8” (use for 2 HST with Color 2)

Color 1       2           5” x 2”

Color 1     1        2 3/8” x 2 3/8” (use for 2 HST with Color 2)

Color 2       1          3 7/8” x 3 7/8” (use for 2 HST with Color 1)

Color 2       1           2 3/8” x 2 3/8” (use for 2 HST with Color 1)

Color 2       2           2 x 3 1/2”

Color 2       2           2 3/8” x 2 3/8” (use for 4 HST with Color 3)

Color 2       2           15” x 1 1/2” for top and bottom borders around butterfly

Color 2       2           8” x 1 1/2” for side borders around butterfly

Color 3       2           2 3/8” x 2 3/8” (use for 4 HST with Color 2)

Color 3       4           3 1/2” x 2”

Color 4       1           5” x 1”

Color 5       2           2 1/2” x 10”  for side borders

Color 5       2           5” x 19”  for top and bottom borders

For my butterfly block, I used the following colors:

Color 1               big white dot on red

Color 2              white on white

Color 3             small white dot on red

Color 4             black and white stripe

Color 5             red

For the HST, just cut the square diagonally, corner to corner, and match with the correct color.

I put up a temporary design wall in my office.  It’s just batting held up with thumbtacks.  It’s pretty amazing that the quilt blocks stay there.  No pins.  They just stick and they’ve been up there for over a week!

My office is dark so the photos are never true to color but this turned out pretty good!

Only four months to go.  And I like it the quilt so far!  Even with none of the colors actually coordinated!

One more look at my Flutter by Butterfly…

Looking forward to posting the block for May!