Herding Butterflies / myLot

Belews Creek, North Carolina

February 21, 2022 7:35pm CST

Between other tasks, I have been working to assemble the hourglass blocks that you see in the photo into larger blocks that are supposed to look like flying butterflies. The tricky bit (for me at least) is following the instruction that requires all the butterflies in a block to be flying in the same direction. Have you ever tried to herd butterflies? I am spending a lot of time trying to coax them to fly straight and not give me any unnecessary grief. I don’t think it’s working.

14 people like this

13 responses

Fiacre Banks

@xFiacre (13035)

• Ireland

22 Feb 22

@sophiamorros Just let the flutterbies do their own thing. There’s nothing prettier than a kindness of butterflies flapping and socialising in an English country garden.

2 people like this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

But I want the behaviour of my butterflies to be very strictly regimented. They need to get with the program!

1 person likes this

Fiacre Banks

@xFiacre (13035)

• Ireland

22 Feb 22

@SophiaMorros And you’ve had 4 kids !!! Thought you’d have learned!

1 person likes this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

@xFiacre

Ruby Hawk

@RubyHawk (99405)

• Atlanta, Georgia

22 Feb 22

It looks interesting but I have no idea how you would herd butterflies.

2 people like this

show previous comments

Ruby Hawk

@RubyHawk (99405)

• Atlanta, Georgia

22 Feb 22

@SophiaMorros Some years ago we made all sorts of things from paper but I’ve forgotten how to do any of it.

1 person likes this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

Judging by my results, I'm not very good at it either. Even with extra diligence while assembling I still had to go back and make a few butterflies smarten up and fly straight!

1 person likes this

Show more comments

Kayla Tsukino

@kaylachan (69830)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

22 Feb 22

I don't think I've ever tried that, but then I'm not a perfectionist, either. I let things just go with the flow.

2 people like this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

I'm not a perfectionist, but I know the final result on this quilt requires that my butterflies be well disciplined.

Juliaacv

@Juliaacv (51009)

• Canada

22 Feb 22

The colours are very pretty, it will be nice to see the finished product-once you get all of those butterflies herded.

1 person likes this

show previous comments

Juliaacv

@Juliaacv (51009)

• Canada

22 Feb 22

@SophiaMorros Many of the butterflies are still south and will not migrate up from Mexico for a bit, so I think that you are safe for a while.

1 person likes this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

The butterflies are all flying straight and true. I've been slowly assembling this particular stack of blocks for a few weeks. Now I move on to putting the blocks together into a quilt top. I have a couple of other projects that are more time-sensitive, though, so I suspect those butterflies will be sitting around for a bit.

1 person likes this

Show more comments

solxee

@sol_cee (38219)

• Philippines

22 Feb 22

Wow you have so many projects going on

2 people like this

Judy Evans

@JudyEv (340216)

• Rockingham, Australia

22 Feb 22

I've heard of trying herd cats but herding butterflies sounds equally as difficult. I hope they cooperate in the end.

1 person likes this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

You just reminded me of this video! Thankfully butterflies don't have sharp claws and teeth!

youtu.be

Your browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn moreRemind me later

1 person likes this

Show more comments

Shavkat

@Shavkat (139937)

• Philippines

22 Feb 22

I tried and it was not a succesful one.

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

I didn't succeed yesterday either. There is a rebellious one on the inside bottom left corner.

Four Walls

@FourWalls (68100)

• United States

22 Feb 22

You need to hire a sheep dog (or in this case, a butterfly dog) to herd them!

1 person likes this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

I bet a butterfly dog could do a better job of this than I did. Even being extra vigilant there were a few rebels who decided to go their own way. ALL four corners decided they didn't want to fly straight on this block. I ripped into them and made them straighten up, but one of those corners took multiple attempts to get right!

1 person likes this

Judy Story

@jstory07 (139742)

• Roseburg, Oregon

22 Feb 22

I hope you get it all figured out.

1 person likes this

MrsJ

@SophiaMorros (5044)

• Belews Creek, North Carolina

22 Feb 22

Extra diligence while assembling the blocks wasn't quite enough. I spent some time this morning ripping out some butterflies so I could force them to face the right direction!