Friday, January 29, 2021

Rainbow Way

I am so pleased to present my Rainbow Way quilt which was one of my 2019 RSC projects. This quilt pattern was in McCall's Quick Quilts August/September 2018, though the original was done all in greens.

I am also glad we had another beautiful sunny day, albeit with the coldest to date overnight low of -10C. One good thing about that is that I got to use a new colour in my temperature quilt! Time is running out for me to run fresh new quilts down to this lake lot for photographing: it has been sold, as I mentioned a while ago, and they've been doing a lot of work to fortify the shoreline at the bottom of the cliff, which you can see from the above photo.
You can read about the construction of the quilt top in this post. This is a quilt on my PHD list, so I am happy to be on track to finish twelve of my UFOs.
I was going to cover the entire quilt with organic wavy lines, but once I started, I immediately knew I'd throw in random little motifs, like E's, swirls, pea pods, and pebbles. That worked fine for the first row of blocks and then I had the idea to connect some of the arrows with feathers. Of course. It is well known that I just love feathers, and all that white space was making me twitch not to do some fancier stuff. This would help accentuate the diagonal 'moving' feel of the quilt. A double row of elongated figure eights helped to define the feathers.

I did straight lines in the arrows to the right of the feathers, again, to emphasize that 'push' feeling.

Once it was off the frame, I had a brainwave to look in my binding scraps bag 'just to see' if I could make a rainbow with the leftovers... oh I certainly could!

I stitched down the binding with the same variegated Aurifil that I used to make the four arrows sign in the centre of the quilt.


You can also see that four arrows sign below in this hot-off-the-squaring-cutting-table shot from yesterday when we had intermittent sun.
It's already looking so cuddly and it's not even bound there!

So this morning I finished stitching down the binding and took some sunny photos. I didn't even plan where the colours of the binding would lie on the quilt, so I was most surprised when the pink section ended by the pink arrows, the peach by the yellow arrows and the blue by the blue arrows. I was also surprised that I had yellow binding scraps!

Here's the back, orange and turquoise florals. All three are scraps of other backs! The main one is a piece I got in an Indianapolis quilt shop several years ago that went on my quilt of the same name, which, if you're curious, you can read about here.
That's the jaunty cloth label you see, which I have yet to write on. Oh, and wait for it: noooo.... as I am typing this caption I see I forgot to sew in my satin mmmquilts label. 🙈😖😂 Not to worry; I've since added it in.

I quilted my initials, as per usual, fitting them in with the E's wavy lines. The photo below shows the varying lengths of binding scraps used, one that just makes me grin: the scrap of rainbow binding you see between the green and yellow. Yes, I did the rainbow binding in rainbow order. It is machine stitched to the back and then top-stitched down on the front. The Aurifil looks great on all the colours.

The lake has some patches of ice on it, and of course, the shore is all icy. That puff of smoke on the southwestern horizon is Fermi II, in Michigan, and I believe a freighter ship (oh for the binoculars).

One more crinkly texture at the lake shot.


This quilt is for sale and will be listed in my Etsy shop shortly!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Which Way is Up in McCall's Quick Quilts Aug/Sep 2018
Size: 60" x 72"
Fabric: scraps and stash
Backing: scraps
Batting: No name thin polyester 
Quilted: on Avril, 130 931 stitches
Threads: pieced with various; quilted with Essential 50 wt Ivory, centre arrow design with Aurifil 50 wt 

The next rainbow quilt is on the design wall, and I think I have finally stopped picking at it, shuffling here and there, and will begin piecing it into a top today! Rufus is progressing nicely as a quilt room/quilt approval dog. He has big paws to fill...😢



Linking up
The Madd Quilter because this is a UFO no more!

14 comments:

  1. That is such a neat design - perfect for a rainbow of color! I knew you would need play with all background space with your quilting and that adds so much to the whole quilt. Beautiful finish, Sandra!

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  2. What a fabulous quilt, with fabulous quilting and binding. I love the little extra in the wavy line design; one is kind of like you going la la la in the middle of the line! Thanks for linking up to TGIFF!

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  3. Wow, Sandra! You really know how to make a beauty of a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt. Congratulations on a spectacular finish!

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  4. The texture you created is stunning, and I love the detail of the rainbow binding, especially all the smaller pieces to aid in the transition from yellow to green!

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  5. My goodness, that is an epic lot of quilting on it & makes it look so textured & cuddly. Well done & the photos are great too. Are you doing DReamI this month? Take care, stay safe & hugs.

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  6. I love the quilting and of course the quilt! I also love feathers and yours are perfect! Beautiful quilt and beautiful setting for photos.

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  7. Your arrow quilt is so beautiful! Love the photos with the lake, too!!! I'm interested in your upcoming rainbow quilt--neat!!!

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  8. Great job on your Rainbow Way Quilt! The quilting is very nice and I love your photo shoot!

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  9. Congrats on a very bright and fun finish! The arrows are fun and the quilting just works. So one off the PHD list with just 11 more to go.

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  10. Oh congrats!! that is a fantabulous finish - and the quilting - Oh lala!! its perfect! your next up looks pretty good......

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  11. Sandra Rainbow Way is a beautiful finish complete with fabulous quilting and a fun scrappy binding. I love seeing the fun colours and seeing Rufus all curled keeping you company!

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  12. Congratulations on another great finish, Sandra! I love the pictures by the lake, especially when they show off the quilting texture so well :) Looks like you have a great start on the next rainbow finish, too!

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  13. Hi Sandra, you've done such a wonderful job of quilting this. Thanks so much for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks. Your quilt will be this week's feature. Thanks!

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  14. Wow! LOVE the pattern and the quilting. Beautiful work.

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