In Rainbows

To know me is to know that I love rainbows. I love the variety of colors against black, gray, or white. I get a little giddy when I see multicolored fabrics that are in rainbow order. (I still like it when the colors are randomly placed but there is nothing better than classic ROY G BIV to me.)

Solid scraps for Class

So of course I was going to do a rainbow stitch and flip design when I signed up for the Jacquie Gering class hosted by OMQG. My original intention was to to a spiral rainbow but my blocks took on a life of their own when I placed them on the design wall.

I began with 3.5 x 6.5 rectangles in gunmetal gray. The various scraps I clipped were all different sizes but I simply chain pieced them on the bottom right corner of each rectangle.

When placed on the design wall, they started to make this diagonal stripe that I really liked when I stepped away from the way. I was really grateful for this wall since I usually design on my table. (Blank wall space is very limited in my tiny house.) When I arrived at the end of the row, I realized that I needed to get this design to turn so I can continue adding the colors in the order planned. The idea of using small squares to make it work appeared as a solution when I played with placement. I went back to work and cut out 3.5 squares and added a stitch and flip to the corners using the same fabric. (It was perfect since I had all of those scraps from the first round of sewing rectangles!)

Jacquie made me practice "turning" by forming triangles!

Here's what I have so far:

(Sort of blurry but you get the idea.)

I formed alternate rows of rectangles and squares for this rainbow design. Jacquie mentioned that she's never seen squares and rectangles together using her method. I was ecstatic to have made a new pattern and can't wait to put it all together. It reminds me of a gymnasts' ribbon used during the artistic portion of their program. Since the English teacher in me also loves alliteration, I might just call it Rainbow Ribbon.

I spent most of my day sewing rectangles and squares at the class but I did learn a lot from Jacquie about playing around with designs and colors. I especially loved seeing Blind Co-pilot in person. She quilted it using rainbow thread! (Beth S. noticed this and called me over to admire it's rainbow beauty.)

I wish I could capture the thread colors perfectly for you to admire, too. J'adore!

I spent much of Labor Day weekend working on sewing the rows together so meticulously. I kept checking and rechecking the order on the first 2 rows then I remembered Jacquie's note about sewing the top to the bottom. I put on some music and gathered my next pile.

Stacked from top to bottom!

I started singing about sewing the top to the bottom and found my groove on Sunday night. This felt liberating and I finally finished sewing the columns.

I needed to take a break from this one so I don't have the top finished just yet for show and tell at Wednesday's next guild meeting. I do have another technique under my belt and the possibilities are endless.

Speaking of Wednesday's meeting, I realized that I never made my BOM for the lotto. As luck would have it, the scraps left over from this class were perfect! I whipped together this wonky star from Linda's great tutorial.

Now, it's time for me to get back to work!
(This fabric isn't going to pay for itself.)