Monarch Larvae Quilt

     Here is the Monarch Larvae quilt completed today.  The colors of the monarch larvae are quite striking which is what has inspired this small work.  The color of the larvae are more of a chartreuse than a yellow but this is my rendition.  The monarch butterfly is a migratory animal traveling from Florida, Texas and as far south as Mexico from North America.  A trip can be a long as 3,000 miles.  They only eat milkweed and are therefore poisonous to most would be predators even in the larvae stage.  As colorful and beautiful as the larvae are the adult butterfly is spectacular with it's orange and black colors.
    This art quilt was made using foundation piecing method.  The pattern was drawn out on a large piece of paper.  Each piece of fabric was ironed down after being stitched in place.  Three strips were constructed, then the three lengths were stitched together. Originally I had planned to add a little bit of yellow-green with some stitching but have decided to leave it as is for the time being.  Probably the most difficult and frustrating part of this quilt was NOT letting the black show through from the back where the black and white are stitched together.  These are manufactured fabrics and not from my stash of hand dyed fabrics.