Quilting Up a Rainbow!

How many of you already had a good guess where my Jackknife blocks were leading me?

This project has been in the works for the past few months - relegated to being a "weekend at home" project.

I had a great time pulling fat quarters from my stash, and cutting into new ones I hadn't used yet.

I only used each block fabric ONCE in the quilt - so backgrounds or colors were only used in one block. There are no duplicate backgrounds or colors.

It helped clear out some space in my fat quarter boxes, and also added new strips to my Scrap User’s System - as once I cut for the blocks, if there was LESS than 1/2 a fat quarter leftover from that piece, I just sliced it all down to add new variety to my strip drawers.

No one wants to sew with the same old thing all the time, so breathing some new air into my scraps will make future quilts even scrap happier!

I did take some liberties with the color placement.

I wanted to add more!

I started out with Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple - but really wanted to pull some "girly" into the mix.  I added Aqua between Green and Blue, and then placed the Pink BEFORE the Purple - because Pink/Red/Orange just didn't have enough contrast when I laid the blocks out.

I figure when it's your OWN rainbow - you can color it any way you want, right?

Or course, the string border was an afterthought.

The Jackknife blocks are LARGE by my standards - but folks have been clamoring for blocks with bigger pieces.  I get it. I do.  

But I wanted something that said POW! At the end. Something that adds a bit more motion than just slapping something on there and calling it done.

Stay-stitching around the outside edge.

It really does help minimize the stretching of the bias at the edges of the string blocks.  And it keeps seams from popping open during the quilting process.  That's always a good thing.

It was mid afternoon before I had time to piece a backing.

I had 6 yards of a gorgeous purple - but when I ran a damp paper towel over it to check for bleeding - my paper towel came back purple.  That fabric is going to need to be prewashed before I use it for a back.  And 6 yards was not quite enough anyway.

I found a 7 yard piece of this peachy color - that will work. And the stash cupboard breathes just a bit easier with 7 yards gone.

Ready to load into the machine.

This quilt is as of yet unnamed.  Everything I search for has been taken. But it will come to me.

Yes, there will be a PDF pattern down the pipeline, but I have a couple of other things in the works that are already on the timeline - so stay tuned!

And this is where I left it.

I likely won't get any further today - I've got an early afternoon appointment in Winston-Salem, and I need to run by the Wallburg house for a load of stuff.

Hooray for errand day! I also want to find a rug for the utility room floor at Quiltville Inn.

This was my heart attack yesterday!

Ivy kept looking at the beam above her head like she wanted to find a way to jump up there too!

And no - I am not building her ramps!

She really has grown to be a "big girl."  Which shows me that she was still a kitten when she found me in July.

She is strong and sturdy - and has earned the nick names of "Butter Ball" and "Little Ivy No Neck."

She and Zoey really do love each other - and they have made our little cabin such a happy home.

I just finished listening to this audio book!

It was 19 hours long.  I LOVE long books with great character development - and I love to listen when I'm in the car on long drives.

If you are an audible member, a 19 hour book is well worth 1 credit!

"During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.

Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.

Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world. "

I've got to find something NEW to load before I head out on today's drive!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Everything we've gone through over the past year has me quilting like mad! 
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Are you with me?

Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone!