Dandelions, Butterflies, and Kite Tails

I've continued working on the new quilt top from the Parts Department. You might want to scroll down to see where we left off in the last post. I'll wait here while you do that...

:- )

To make it easier to build up the longer sides of the flimsy I turned it a quarter turn on the design wall. Then I pulled out some 12 inch blocks to see how they would look with what I'd done so far:

I probably could have made it work but I decided to try some other blocks first. The six inch Shoo-fly blocks didn't feel right. I'd pretty well used up my eight inch blocks. However, I did find some six inch butterfly blocks I'd forgotten I'd made!

It would have been a little too busy for my taste to have all butterflies down both sides. I considered making four patch blocks but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Eventually I tried the framed square blocks I make occasionally out of odd 3" patches and 1.5" strips.

Good enough! Once that border was in place I turned the top end-for-end so I could add the companion border on the opposite side. This involved pleating the top so it would fit on the design wall.

After those two borders were applied the top measured about 48" x 64." I was shooting for 60" x 72." What to do, what to do?

I could add up to six inches on two sides but only needed four inches or less on the other two sides. This had me stumped for a couple of days. I wanted a single print as the final border around the quilt top, just to hold things together. I was sort of stuck on the idea of pieced units for the wider borders. Once I got past that it became a simple matter of finding the right prints to use as whole cloth strips. The black and white wasn't quite what I had in mind but it worked better than anything else I tried.

The red print is from an old, old line called Petal Pets. This happens to be Dandelions.

Thus the official name for this flimsy: Dandelions, Butterflies, and Kite Tails! (The kite tails being the diagonal line of patches in the middle of the composition.)

Now I really have to get busy on my Tea Towel Challenge quilt. I only have a couple of weeks left!