Butterfly Quilts by Sheril Drummond

Sheril Drummond lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where she publishes her blog, Serendipity, sells her beautiful patterns, designs and creates quilts, teaches yoga, and gives workshops on quilting. Sheril's outstanding work has been accepted into major quilt shows including the International Quilt Festival in Houston and the AQS shows (see Three Friends, which we featured at Quilt Inspiration, and Remembering Barbaro, which was featured at All About Applique).

Anastasia butterflies in Flights of Fancy by Sheril Drummond

Sheril began sewing in early childhood, but when she moved to Kentucky, she took a quilt class in using the "stained glass" method of creating appliqued quilts. Small pieces of fabric are fused onto the background fabric, with just a small amount of the background between each piece of fabric.The small amount of fabric that shows through gives the look of a leaded stained glass window. This stunning quilt above was shown at the 2009 Pacific International Quilt Festival. We think the results of Sheril's technique are spectacular!

Close-up, Flights of Fancy by Sheril Drummond

The fabulous butterflies on the original Anastasia quilt are actually an arm's length long, but Sheril's pattern is 21 x 18. Sheril notes that you can make the butterflies larger or smaller according to your own personal taste. All of the butterfly patterns you see here, plus other equally fabulous ones, are for sale by Sheril. For more details, please contact Sheril by email at the profile page of her blog.

Bridgette Butterfly, 22 x22, by Sheril Drummond

We think that all of Sheril's butterfly quilts are gorgeous. However, we are especially fond of "Bridgette", because the layout design of the luminous batik fabric creates a lovely swirling kaleidoscope effect. Sheril is now giving lessons on the internet on how to create these dazzling stained glass applique quilts. For a very reasonable fee, Sheril will be your personal tutor and will provide individualized instruction on making your own quilt using the method shown here. For more information, please see Sheril's "Serindiptiy2" blog .

Franchesca Butterfly, 43 x41, bySheril Drummond

While the size of the actual quilt is 43 x 41, the vibrantly colored Franchesca butterfly itself is size 33 x 18. Therefore, you can vary the size of the quilt by changing the appearance of the flower or by inserting a smaller bouquet of multiple flowers. Also, notice that Sheril originally appliqued the fabric for this butterfly on a brilliant red background, which is why red lines show in between the fabric segments. You could also applique the fabric on a pure white background or tangerine background depending upon the hues in your surrounding room decor.

Image credits: Images shown are with the generous permission of artist Sheril Drummond.