Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Blotting Out Winter With Rainbows

 
Click here for pattern:  Rainbow Bows

It all started with a sale on fabrics. Right after Christmas, I happened upon a package of sixteen fat eights in bright, rainbow colored, polka dots at half price. How could I pass that up? The baby box containing items I'm making for future great-grands is far from overflowing.

While cold winter took hold and the snow fell constantly, I played with warm, summer colors. I dreamed of warm days, soft rain, and lovely rainbows. The rainbow colored fabrics turned into a quick and easy rainbow quilt made with large and small bow tie blocks. I kept the theme going in the border of alternating colored and white squares - rainbows everywhere to contrast with the gray skies and white snow outside my window.

Too much snow!

I almost never use polyester batting in my quilts. It's too lightweight to drape nicely or to hold it's shape as a table runner or a wall hanging, but when it comes to quilts for babies, polyester is my first choice. It's warm, it's soft, and it is lightweight. A baby quilt like this is light enough for a toddler to drag everywhere. It can be tossed into the washer and dryer with other laundry, too.  This isn't the kind of quilt  you might display on a wall. it's meant to be used and loved.



Minimal stitch-in-ditch quilting was perfect this time.  Simple, straight lines with a walking foot are fast, well suited to the batting, and the quilt remained soft and fluffy.

Quite a bit of fabric was leftover, so I improvised the back of the quilt to use up the extra.



I also made a coordinated slip on pillow cover There is no zipper this time, so the entire project was both fun and easy.


Dreaming of spring.



Wishing you a lovely end to winter. 











5 comments:

  1. A beautiful way to while away the winter! Gorgeous quilt and pillow case. I love the quilt backing too!

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    1. Thank you. Working with bright colors was a wonderful contrast to nature's white and gray.

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  2. Thank you for this pattern! It was easy for a beginner quilter (me) to use and came together quickly. I followed your colors exactly and was able to focus on my sewing mechanics. I am very pleased with my results and hope the mom-to-be is as well! I will be checking your patterns for future projects!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm so happy that you are pleased with the results.

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  3. I love your quilt and have the fabric but am totally unclear about direction #1, 2 and 3. When you say draw a line on each of the 2 1/2 in square, do you draw it diagonally from middle to middle...ie 1 1/4 inches or somewhere else on the small square? Then do you sew the two small squares together first? I can't tell because the drawing has a colored corner on the white large square and am also unclear as you would not need to draw a line on both small squares to sew them together? I am really sorry, but I am just not putting the puzzle pieces to ether to look like your drawing and directions for 1, 2 and 3. I would sure love your help. Dana Laird 206 257 88784

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