My first finish of 2021 is an extra special one! I was honored to interpret a 10-year-old artist’s artwork into a mini quilt in support of the ForeBatten Foundation. Juvenile Batten disease is a inherited, rare, fatal disorder of the nervous system and the ForeBatten Foundation is dedicated to providing funding, support, and hope for the Batten community, and for children and families dealing with this terrible disease.
They recently held a Butterly Art Contest and five winners are receiving an interpretation of their art in quilt form. (The image above is the winning piece that inspired my mini!) The other four winners will receive mini quilts from Elizabeth Ray, Sarah Goer, Jessica Plunkett, and Kelly Spell.
I really enjoyed the process of translating art into quilt form. I wanted to stick closely to the artist’s original work, but decided to use print fabrics instead of solids to add some fun and visual interest. All of these prints are by Alison Glass — I have quite a large stash of her fabrics and knew I would find just what I needed in that bin!
I used Wonder Under to cut and fuse the butterfly wings and bodies to the background fabric. Since the edges were left raw, I chose to quilt densely to make sure they stay in place for good. I wouldn’t call this matchstick quilting — wavy lines instead of straight, and not quite as dense as typical matchstick — but it’s close! I loved the texture on the finished piece.
I use a green print from my stash for the backing, and chose to face this quilt instead of bind it. I think the green goes well with the butterfly theme, even though there is no green on the front. It’s a nice surprise to see on the back! I also created a tiny sleeve on the back. If the recipient chooses to hang this quilt, they’ll be able to easily slip a dowel rod through the sleeve and hang the ends of the rod on nails or command hooks.
It was a pleasure to create this mini and I hope the recipient enjoys it!
The stats:
- Techniques used: raw edge fusible applique, domestic machine quilting, hand embroidery.
- Quilt top fabrics are Alison Glass for Andover. Backing and facing is an unknown print from my stash.
- Measures ~21″ by 15″.
- Quilted on my domestic machine with Aurifil thread in #6672 (Sea Biscuit). I used 80 wt in the needle and 50 wt in the bobbin.
- Antenna were hand stitched with Aurifil 12 wt thread in #2692 (Black).
