All a Flutter

Welcome back!

     Today I was able to complete something that has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Here's the story, though I must warn you it is a tad emotional:

     Several years ago I made a quilt with my older sister, who sadly died in 2008. We had spent three days straight on this quilt top around Christmas time in 2005, when I was seventeen and she was nineteen. We picked the colours together, designed it together, did all the calculating together. She did the cutting, which was her specialty, and I did the sewing and the pressing, which was my specialty. But we were never able to get it finished, as we didn't really have any way of doing so.

     I have carried this quilt top around with me for years, and it is very important to me. It is a treasure to hold forever from a time that cannot be replaced. It has moved house with me not once, or twice, but about six times. When I moved to the U.K. with my new family, I could only take two suitcases, and a large chunk of one of those suitcases was dedicated to this quilt top, because I just couldn't leave it behind.

Quilt top before it was sent off, finished picture to come soon.



     Finally, after nearly two years of living in this country and going from homeless and broke to finally getting our lives on track to succeed, we were able to find the money to get it finished so it can get out of the attic and into some sort of living space. A bit stressful as I had to hand over this precious thing to a group of strangers to put needles all throughout, but at least it is finally on its way to being used. It's no good just leaving it in the attic to be ignored.

     When I sent the company the quilt in the post, I had packaged it in one of those space saving bags, the ones where you squeeze the air out to make fluffy things less bulky. Apparently they had accidentally included this bag in with someone else's finished quilt, because a woman sent it back to me in the post, along with a printed card that looked like watercoloured butterflies on a white background.

     Based on what was written in the card, at first I thought she had ended up with my quilt as well! So naturally, I started panicking! But I figured it out soon after, she was just returning the bag to me. How sweet! And to think I don't even know this woman or even her name...

     I kept looking at the card, because I thought it was pretty, and I kept wondering how I could make something like it. When my husband saw it, he mentioned to me that there is an a la carte stamp in the IB&C that is very similar (i.e. it's a butterfly that is more realistic than cartoonish). Wheels in my head started turning, but I wasn't ready to place an order for just this one thing.

     Soon after this, I did a favour for someone and ended up with this a la carte stamp, called All a Flutter. Since then I have been wanting to do my version of the card I recieved, but have never been in the right mood with the right wave of inspiration. I kept taking it out, only to go in a different creative direction and placing the stamp back on the shelf.

     Today, though, I was in the right mood, in the right place, at the right time, and finally created a card I can say I'm really proud to call my own. I haven't looked at the original card for weeks, so just went with the ideas in my head rather than staring at the original during the process. I didn't want to make something very similar, I just wanted to watercolour the butterflies in a beautiful way and capture the serenity I felt from the original.

     On a piece of Whisper White cardstock 9cm x 14cm, first I stamped the butterfly twice in Wisteria Wonder ink. I thought Basic Gray would be too dark, and anything else just wouldn't do for me. Looking for some flowers that would go nicely, I settled on a stamp from the Simply Soft set, a set which is only available with a qualifying workshop order (See IB&C for details). I stamped this in Old Olive ink, and used Stampin' Up! Watercoulour Pencils to partially colour in the butterflies and the flowers and stems.

     After pencilling, I used my Aqua Painter to blend the colours, to create the water-coloured effect. It was so therapeutic to do this, and it felt so wonderful, like I could do it all day. It reminded me of when I was a little girl, mixing the purple and blue watercolour paints to make a rich violet-blue, which was my favourite colour to make.

     Immediately everything started coming to life, and I was happy already. (You can see here the difference between the left wing, unpainted, and the right wing, which has been painted with the Aqua Painter.)

     I used a sponge dauber, with some Pool Party ink picked up onto it, to daub the edges of the Whisper White card. I left the bottom edge uncoloured as this is where the flowers originate. I layered behind this a strip of Sweet Shop Designer Series Paper (from the new Summer Mini), a scrap from the last card I made (see Sweet Cake), and behind that another piece of Whisper White sized 10.5cm x 14.8cm. On this backround piece of Whisper White, I used Simply Scored to score some lines to frame the top layer.

     Before attaching the top layer onto the background layer, I wrapped some white Baker's Twine (also from the Summer Mini) around the front piece. I punched out a scallop oval in Whisper White and daubed this also with Pool Party, and onto a scrap piece of Whisper White stamped the sentiment "THANK YOU" from Faith in Nature, which is another hostess stamp set. I punched out this sentiment with the medium oval punch and layered it over the scallop oval.

     Quite simple really, but so beautiful.

     It's unlike anything I've ever made before, and I am actually quite proud of myself! I think I will be sending it to the ladies at The Bramble Patch in Weedon who have been my saviours and finished this quilt for me, it's been long overdue and I am so grateful to have found someone to do it for me.

     If she were still here today, I think my sister would be proud.

Happy Crafting my friends, and hug your loved ones.

Sincerely,