From a chorus line to a ballet

A few years ago, I came across a quilting book called Wonderful 1 Fabric Quilts by Kay Nickols.  I liked the idea of taking a single, striped fabric and manipulating transforming it into something quite different.  Okay, I admit it, I'm a manipulator.  Yeah,  I know, that word has a reputation for being used in a negative way.  That is a shame because the first definition I just read (have you noticed yet that I'm into words?) was this:  to move, arrange, operate or control by the hands or by mechanical means, especially in a skillful manner (I really liked that last phrase).  So, by that definition, we quilters are ALL manipulators!  Bwahaha (ahem) It's a good thing.  Really.

So the hunt began for a stripe.  I thought this one was pretty and might offer some interesting effects.  Can you see where I got the idea of a chorus line?  Those butterflies aren't looking very flutterby-like, all lined up in a row like that.  Time for some Manipulation!

I wish I had taken pictures of the cutting steps.  Just imagine four identical layers, the print carefully matched.   Then I cut squares, which were then cut diagonally, twice, creating four copies of four different triangles.  Clear as mud, right?

In this picture you can see the triangles being auditioned.  Oh...kind of like...dancers...for a...ballet!  They did have to do quite a bit of twirling and swirling before I was satisfied with them.

Getting there...

Okay, quick, stitch it together before I change my mind!

Add a couple borders and it's ready to quilt.

Since this was a wall hanging, I decided to quilt a little denser than I usually do.  Can you say micro-stippling?

Working on such a small scale was challenging.  It's hard to get any sense of rhythm going.  I was glad I only had to fill in the light areas around the butterflies.  The rest of it, not including the borders, was just tracing over the printed designs.  Easy peasy!

For the outside border I made a butterfly stencil to trace around so that the spacing would be even and they would be fairly uniform in shape and size.  I guess we're back to the chorus line. Or maybe it's like this.

So, here I present Butterfly Ballet.

And remember, if anyone says you're manipulative,  they could be giving you a compliment!