But at the Saturday Sew-In with Central Florida MQG friends, in spite of overcast skies, Cindy offered to hold my quilt for pictures. Thank you, Cindy! We picked a spot under a huge live oak tree dripping with Spanish moss. The gnarly texture of the tree trunks is beautiful.
To make this Rainbow Rounds quilt, over many months I foundation paper-pieced 16 12" X 12" quilt blocks. I prepped fabrics and papers, and in no hurry whatsoever, took them along to work on (using my tiny, aqua-colored Janome Derby) at weekly meetings of Big Cypress Quilters. In September, while on a week-long retreat with friends (#sixgalsretreat), I completed the quilt top.
In my last blog post I shared that I used homemade basting spray to sandwich five 24" X 24" quilts I made to hang in our living area. Rainbow Rounds is the first larger quilt (it finished at 57" X 57") that I also sandwiched using homemade basting spray. I used the same spray that remained from the first batch, and after giving the bottle a good shake, the spray worked just as it did well two weeks earlier.
If I haven't expressed it sincerely enough, I will do so now... I love using homemade basting spray! It has changed my domestic machine quilting life - a surprise to me that after all these years of quiltmaking (since 1976) I have discovered something new to me.
Homemade basting spray is the bees knees!
After quilting, I washed it. Even though I pulled the quilt from the dryer after ten minutes, and let it finish drying on a bed with a ceiling fan going overhead, it dried crumply - a look I'm not overly fond of. Perhaps it's unavoidable when batting is 100 percent cotton - Quilter's Dream Request. The thread used for quilting is YLI silver polished cotton.
I love the backing fabric because the print completely hides any hiccups in my quilting. The binding is pieced from different scraps of text prints used as backgrounds in the blocks.
Rainbow Rounds is a pattern by Jo Avery (MyBearPaw) that was in issue 24 of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine. Jo originally called the quilt Bufferwheel, in case you'd like to look for it on Instagram.
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| Rainbow Rounds, 57" X 57" |
Oh! And we're 15 days into January and I haven't bought any fabric! 😂 "No fabric purchases" is my 2018 goal and I'm stickin' to it! Linda
Oh this is lovely! But then I love a crinkly quilt! I also love the Request loft batting and the drape it creates when the quilting is close. Funny, I try to wait for overcast days to photograph my quilts. Bright sun and shadows challenge me.
ReplyDeleteoh this is lovely!! What a wonderful first finish! And yay for no other quilt tops in the wings. I have ONE but am about to be able to face it. I'm not sure I'd be a quilter if I just stacked tops up. I really feel the need to finish things...
ReplyDeleteWell, I can't say there are no quilt tops waiting in the wings, lucky you! Though I know that won't last too long for you either. I think your crinkly finish is lovely, a bit of "old-fashioned" texture on your thoroughly modern quilt. It looks so soft and comfy, and that's a good combination in my book.
ReplyDeleteThe texture and color of this quilt are just lovely. It's a beautiful way to start off the year. I'm just curious if there's another batting you prefer for everyday quilts that doesn't get as crinkly?
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love your Rainbow Rounds quilt Linda, and I meant to comment on your last post...to thank you for the basting spray recipe. You won't believe it, but I ordered and paid dearly for a tin of 505 the day before I read your post. Bummer!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway I'll look forward to hearing from you awhile down the track, as to whether your quilts remained as good as new. I imagine you have humid weather, like we do in Auckland NZ, and it worries me that the flour may end up moldy in the humidity! Its a fabulous idea if it works for us.
It came out beautifully! Congrats on your finish, Linda. Old Man Winter has a pretty tight grip on us, too. San Antonio, and surrounding areas, was paralyzed yesterday by freezing rain and freezing temps.
ReplyDeleteThis looks terrific, Linda. Well done!
ReplyDeleteYep, I am cutting way back on purchases too. I need to get a couple million works in progress completed before I stockpile any more fabric
I love the scrappy rainbow goodness of this quilt and the swirl design is perfect for it!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a happy rainbow of colors. Love the quilting design you used too.
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic! I'm with you that I prefer non-crinkly, but I also want to use 100% cotton batting (I love Quilter's Dream but more often use Warm & Natural or Warm & White because I make a lot of charity quilts and can get it on sale.). I'm going to have to try the homemade basting spray!
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