This post feels severely delayed, but it’s been hard to get good pictures of this bad boy. It’s actually my last finish of 2020! It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but we’ve all had that happen before.
Throughout 2020, I was trying to work through the fabric collections I’ve acquired over the years. Some from friends and family, others I fell in love with and couldn’t resist getting. This fabric collection is one of those stories. I can’t even remember exactly when or where I got it. Possibly on one of my trips to Washington, or maybe at a quilt show that was having a special. Regardless, it was such a beautiful collection of Bella solids and I knew someday I’d find the right pattern for them.
Because I have so many fabric sets, I have browsed A LOT of patterns. When I started thinking about what to do with this rainbow set, the striped blocks came up and it seemed perfect! I had just finished two quilts that were heavy in triangles and I really needed a change of pace. How hard could a bunch of strips be? Easy peasy! Ha!
I got to work cutting the colored strips first so I’d know how much white I’d need. It was a close one, but I had just enough white to get the job done. I really wanted to try and add a little more to make it more rectangular, but I couldn’t find a match for the white and decided this would do.
It took so long to make these blocks because they had to be sewn and ironed each time. Yes, I could chain piece with the colors but then I had to go iron, get the next batch ready and go back to it. Sew, iron, and repeat; sew, iron, and repeat. As the blocks came together, I was super happy with the results, and the necessary efforts.
The fabric backing I picked out was just a touch too small, so I added a little leftover peach from the front to make it work.
Quilting also confused me on this one. I am used to a basic meander. It’s quick, it flows throughout the entire quilt top, and my machine can handle that type of quilting. But the straight lines and right angles of this quilt made it feel like it needed a different approach. I went out of my comfort zone and did a simple square pattern. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it all the way to the end, but now I LOVE IT! It was exactly what this modern quilt needed.
I used the matching navy blue for the binding, and it’s quickly become a favorite in the house.
I still had the leftover triangles from the trimming I had to do to make straight edges. I couldn’t let them go to waste, so I made a beautiful table runner with them. It has very patriotic colors and I kept it simple with gray borders (which also came in the original color pack).
I used a boxed grey for the backing and used the same blue binding as the main quilt. I am glad I have a different table runner for our front entry now. I need to make some more so I can mix it up during the year. What a great way to use up the extra fabric.
When all was said and done, I had only a few scraps left that were added to my scrap bins and saved for a scrappy project of some sort. Awesome!
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