Butterfly Sanctuary

 

For another one of the 5 quilts, I wanted to express hope. And butterflies to me have always expressed hope. While rummaging in my stash of 1 yard/1 metre cuts, I found these 2 butterfly fabrics. 

But I didn't necessarily want to use them together. And then I remembered that I had purchased some butterfly fabric last year. Most of last year's purchases are still piled in a rough tote, waiting to be organized and shelved. Or maybe just used in a quilt. 😁

I'll be honest: I was rather loath to part with this one. It's so beautiful. But not every beautiful fabric can end up in a quilt for me. Just like I can't keep every beautiful quilt that I make. 
Neither of the first butterfly fabrics would coordinate well with this one. Although the lighter one actually has a pink background (I know it looks more mauve in the picture), the pink was too light. 

But this one is a much more vibrant pink and would echo the bright pinks in the white fabric. 

And this one would pick up some of the blues. 
So, I had my 3 fabrics, and then had to choose a pattern. I considered a double focus pattern because both the white and the blue are large prints. I especially wanted a large block for the white print. I ended up choosing Traditions from the book Make It Christmas, as it has a 10" square of the focus fabric and I felt that the 4" squares in the alternate blocks were big enough to feature some of the butterflies in the blue fabric. 

For the quilting, I chose Butterfly Charm. While I am trying to use pantographs in my collection that I haven't used before, nothing but Butterfly Charm would work for this one. And I have used it before as I have made 2 butterfly-themed quilts previously: Butterflies and Blooms and Take Flight, plus I used it once in quilting a friend's quilt. 
And yes, this is the quilt that received the hot pink backing. I had originally planned on using the blue backing that I used in Ashford Square, but as I mentioned, the hot pink just wasn't going to work in the final quilt of the 5 quilts. But it worked fine for this one. I just hope the recipient appreciates pink!