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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Shattered Rainbow

I put the last stitch in the binding of my rainbow quilt last night, and I am so in love with it!  If I could, I would have taken twenty photos of it!  That's the bummer of making a queen sized quilt though, it's so big that there are only so many ways to photograph it.  Adding to the difficulty was the fact that after several straight days of beautiful sunshine, it poured down rain for exactly fifteen minutes last night, so the grass was still a little bit wet this morning.  Glad the deck dried more quickly!


To make the quilt, I used my Improv Piecing technique.  I used the same process last summer when I made Serendipity, and since making that quilt with its scattered explosion of color, I knew I wanted to make a rainbow/color wheel quilt with the same style.  I use so many scraps in my quilt backings, that very few get put into my scrap jars, which really is a good thing for me.  So, it just took some time for me to build up enough scraps for it. The quilt is so huge though, a whopping 88" x 96" queen, I'm thinking that I may have saved up too many!  Apparently, I accumulate enough scraps for one queen sized scrap quilt per year.

I've named this one Shattered Rainbow, and the biggest difference between this quilt and Serendipity (other than the obvious color placement), is that I made 8 inch finished blocks on this quilt instead of 12 inch.  Since I wanted to be able to blend the colors gradually around the quilt, smaller blocks worked better.


On the back, I created a wide rainbow bordered by this awesome polkadot in two soft shades of gray. I like that the gray dot looks very dreamy and cloud like- the perfect place for a rainbow!


One of the things I like best about this quilt is the scrappy binding.  Instead of choosing a single color, or randomly sewing strips together for the binding, I actually planned it out, which is something I've never done before.  Each color section has binding that matches.  There are some places where one binding color spills over into the next, but for the most part, the plan worked!


I just love scrappy quilts.  Aside from the fact that they are so interesting to look at, they are so much fun to make.  Sewing fabrics together and recalling each quilt that the scraps came from is a nice trip down memory lane!



44 comments:

  1. Beautiful quilt! I love the rainbow colors! What fabric is that perfect gray polka dot?

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  2. I love the colors, the combination of colored scraps and the all over joy of it!

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  3. Your quilt is beautiful! You should be very proud of this accomplishment!

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  4. How delightful! I love the 'planned scrappy' binding ... cool idea :)

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  5. What a lovely quilt. I love the way the colours merge into each other (very clever block placement). The binding is great too - it must have taken some planning.

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  6. I'm seriously due for a scrap quilt. Yours looks so pretty in the half light/half shade! Queen size quilts are definitely a pain to photograph. The planned scrappy binding is beautiful! That's one of my favorite ways to bind. :)

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  7. I love scrap quilts and yours is beautiful!

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  8. I love it! Your planned binding is great ....scrappy bindings are fun but I've never planned color placement. Perfect!

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  9. This quilt is so gorgeous Kelly! I love it!

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  10. I love this, one of the best scrap quilts I've seen in a long time. I love that binding!

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  11. It's gorgeous- I love it! Now I want to make a scrappy rainbow quilt too!

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  12. What a wonderful use of scraps. It's sooo pretty!

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  13. Hi Kelly! I love this quilt! Colours are gorgeus and the layout perfect! Binding is also Super! x Teje

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  14. Awesome! I love the way you did the binding such a great effect for the quilt. I really should do at least one real bed sized quilt a year too, lol! Great finish.

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  15. Love it! You've created a real treasure!

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  16. Wow, it's just gorgeous Kelly. You should be super stoked with this one. I love the colour selection including prints and you've put them together so well.

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  17. I love your meandering colour placement, it really is beautiful! The all over meander quilting must make is so soft as well. Did you manage to quilt all that on your home machine? It's massive!!

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  18. Kelly, that is beautiful! I really love scrappy, rainbow quilts! What are you going to do with it?

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  19. Totally amazing! Love the coordinating binding around the quilt!

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  20. Vorgeous! Ilove the greection and the fact that you did a little different take on the rainbow quilt colour layout. It really shines.

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  21. Gorgeous quilt, Kelly! Love how you grouped the colours!! The binding is perfect too :)

    -Soma

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  22. Turned out beautiful. Great job! Love the idea that you also used scraps for the binding. Did this quilt make a dent in your stash?

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  23. Did a great job on the top, bottom, binding...well let's just say the whole thing!

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  24. It's gorgeous! I love the colors and the scrappiness and the binding and...well...everything really! :)

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  25. So impressed that you matched your scrappy binding to the colour zones on the quilt top. One my bee-mates suggested I do this once and it scared the living daylights out of me! Beautiful finish!

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  26. That's really lovely - congrats on a gorgeous quilt!

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  27. Gosh I really love that! And that is cool the way you matched up the binding - super job all round!

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  28. This is so pretty! Love the rainbow layout and all those awesome scraps!

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  29. Oh your rainbow quilt is beautiful, front and back! What a great way to use up scraps.

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  30. I really like how the change in block size and layout add a completely different look than other scrap quilts like this (including one I made)! It is beautiful.

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  31. What a wonderful use of scraps! Thanks for the tutorial in your previous post.

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  32. Wow! This is stunning! I'm so inspired by this and will have to raid my scraps soon. Simply beautiful.

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  33. Fabulous! I've just checked out your improv piecing tutorial, and I'm definitely going to follow that tutorial for my next project. I don't think it'll be rainbow, but you never know. This is such an inspiration.

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  34. Such a gorgeous finish, Kelly! This is by far my favourite quilt you have ever made. Love, love, love what you went with for the backing... And that binding? Brilliant!!! She's a big and beautiful rainbow quilt! No wonder you keep having rain!

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  35. WOW I love it! It's so colorful!!!

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  36. This quilt is super gorgeous! Love it! The binding is amazing

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  37. So this is what I should do with all my scraps? ! Mine are spilling over! I ♡♡♡ your shattered quilt!!!

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  38. Hi . They are both beautiful. Makes me want to go into the sewing room and sew and sew😊

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