Don't Go Chasing Butterflies...Or Maybe You Should

Sharyn Mellors just sent me something wonderful.

Photos of her latest quilt, If I Can't Catch A Butterfly (I Can Always Catch A Seagull)

"It is a quote from my grandson Aiden," she says, "when he was playing with his butterfly net birthday gift. He was five.

 I just love the childhood thinking that nothing is impossible."

"I used a couple photos of Aiden when I designed this quilt.  The face on the original was not in enough contrast to paint it well. So I had to use my math to make the head and the body fit -- then blow it up to quilt size." 

"I started this quilt in August 2016 and finished the end of April...just a few days before they came in and loaded my whole studio out to make repairs and paint, after a roof leak. Four hundred boxes and two semi-trailers later, I am still trying to put it back together (and of course get rid of stuff that I don't need anymore). 
     "When they called [to load everything up], I just kept saying, 'NOOOO! I HAVE DEADLINES. YOU CAN'T.' 
               But they did."

(Hey, I can relate, after our basement flood five years ago. We still don't have everything back in place.)

"This is what happens," Sharyn says, "when your husband retires, and decides to farm out some work around the house..."

If you're headed to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX this fall, you can see this quilt in person -- it's been juried in.
      Take a look at Sharyn's bonafides here...this is just one in a series of applique quilts she's been turning out in recent years.

Beautiful.