Remember all that secret sewing I was doing a week or so ago? It's time to unveil it. And, boy-howdy! I'm excited about it. I had so much fun working on this quilt. It currently is hanging with pride in the entry way of our house.
Isn't it gorgeous? (Ok I'm am totally biased but I love it.) The design is by Preeti Harris who blogs at Sew Preeti Quilts. She called me to see if I would test a pattern and share it with the world through my blog. Well why not. I've made several tops that she has designed so I knew it would be well written. (See Synergy I tested for her in April 2022 here.) When I first saw the pattern I realized it was a perfect pattern to use some fabric I had hand dyed years ago. It was, with one little issue... I didn't trust it not to bleed. And, I was right. So every fabric had a long, leisurely bath in my bathroom sink. Several times. Eventually they all were dry and ready to be ironed and find a place in the quilt. You might notice what Preeti designed was bigger and used more colors than mine. I worked with a very limited collection of fabrics and many were barely half yard pieces. So I improvised. And, this pattern definitely is easy to improvise.
I chose a light silver grey Kona solid. I wanted the colors to be the main focus.
I had a hard time deciding which quilting pattern I would use on my Rainbow Parade. Finally, it dawned on me that I didn't want the quilting to take precedence over the wonderful design and colors. I used a stipple pattern that was included with my robotics. It was perfect for letting the design and colors shine.
A few more thoughts on this pattern -- it is easy to make. The blocks are 13" finished so you don't need lots to have a decent size quilt. Mine is about 44.5" x 57" and is set 3 x 4. The pattern is set 4 x 5 and measures 57" x 70".
Preeti did a great job with detailing what you need to make this rainbow quilt. She wrote it so each color is repeated in the next diagonal row. My lack of lots of fabric made it impossible for me to do it that way. But, it worked out just fine any way. Talk about versatile!
I would like to make it again using a print fabric where the darker fabric is in my version. I make a lot of kid centric quilts and this pattern could highlight a cute novelty fabric really well. I could use one color for all of the light parts or use a rainbow of fabrics again. I could also see this as a patriotic fabric using the same concepts as for the novelty fabric.
Would you like to win a digital copy of this pattern? One lucky commenter will win. Make sure you add an email address if you don't have it attached to your name.
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| More accurate colors |
Would you like some hand dyes to play with yourself? I'm offering a give away of 4 fat quarters of fabric I hand dyed. I promise they will all have a spa day in my bathroom sink until the dye quits rinsing out. Limited to the US. One comment will get you a chance at both the hand dye and the Rainbow Parade pattern. Again, make sure your email is attached to your name.
Here are the hand dyes I'll be sending out. Hum, it isn't smart to try to take pictures in the middle of the night and expect the colors to come out correctly. The top one is a slightly blue green. The second one is actually what I'd call flamingo pink. The next one is a medium blue - not a grey blue. And the last is mauve. (I might have purchased that piece as it isn't the same greige goods.) Update -- the bigger picture is more accurate but I think the colors are a bit brighter. I left the night picture in just to show the contrast.
The other thing that happened to my great surprise and happiness is I had a leftover backing that worked well with the rainbow concept. I actually had loaded this backing and was going to put another top on it when I realized it would work for Rainbow Parade. Kismet!
Want to see more versions of Rainbow Parade? Preeti lined up an international group of quilters to help her out. Check out these blogs to see more Rainbow Parade quilts.
I'll be linking with the following Linky parties (when they come on line.)
One last look at my Rainbow Parade.
Hum...all through making this quilt I thought of the red/pink block as being the top. And here I hung this one upside down! (Or not!)
Happy Quilting All! Bonnie
