We have had a cloudy, rainy week, up here in the Lower Mainland (Fraser Valley) of British Columbia.

I don't work well in hot weather -- I just sort of wilt and wait for the cooler days to stiffen my spine so that I can again move around...

Anticipating hot weather coming I have been very busy this week and part of last. I completed a small quilt that will be submitted to my quilt guilds' summer challenge. Our guild does a challenge every summer with the object being that the quilts submitted are given to local children's and women's charitable endeavours. We are usually give one or two fabrics to work from with no rules other than the quilt should be suitable for a child or baby. So this butterfly is my endeavour. My husband thinks it is great -- but then he is partial to BLUE. This little quilt though has given me the opportunity to post a tutorial on APPLIQUE.

I use a specific method to create layered applique -- which is the kind of designs that are built to create a picture or object, rather than the kind of applique where you sew a single motif onto a background such as you would if you want to create a vine with individual leaves.

If you are interested in seeing how I put together the wings of this Butterfly you can go to my LAYERED APPLIQUE TUTORIAL on Flickr and follow the steps. The pattern I used for this project is from a book called BUTTERFLIES by Nancy Donahue and published in 1982 by Patchwork Patterns of Industry, CA, so I am not able to pass along this actual pattern to anyone who may request it. The tutorial though will work with any type of applique design that requires that you "build" the elements of the design before appliqueing it to a background fabric.

Please leave a comment or a question to let me know how well this tutorial has worked for you either here or on my flickr site.