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.