Rainbows and unicorns

In the not-so-distant past when I was still on Instagram, I spied a special little roll of fabrics that Polka Dot Tea Fabrics were selling in their Etsy store. They recommended that it be bought with some black chambray and never having used chambray in quilting before, I thought why the heck not?




There were 18 rainbow colours in the roll. What else was I supposed to do but make a rainbow quilt?



Bron and I took these photos up at Mt Stromlo last weekend before we dropped our quilts in for the Canberra Quilters exhibition. There didn't appear to be much of a wind when we headed up to the Walking on the Moon sculpture, and yet there was. It was so frustrating while we waited for the gusts to die down, but Bron got to work on her core muscles again so it was all good.



I quilted concentric 1/4 circles on this quilt. I knew I wanted to do that the moment I started putting the blocks together, but it didn't work the first time. So I unpicked, unbasted, got new batting, rebasted, marked a centre 1/4 circle, and started again. The lines are 20 mm apart and I used my walking foot and the guide. The Bernina walking foot guide is a total pain in the arse - it is far too long and gets in the way of the quilt you are trying to feed through the throat space. In another life I might buy a spare set of guides and then take to the extra length with a hacksaw.



The thread I used for quilting was a 40 wt, rather than my usual 50 wt. I wanted the stitching to sit on top of the quilt a bit, to add another texture layer. I think I achieved that.

I got a little whiskering with the quilting lines, but not enough that I don't want to put this on the bed. It certainly won't win any prizes though, but I honestly don't care - I absolutely love it.




These photos happened because we were defeated by the wind.





I wanted to show the back because I think it is pretty cool. I used four different Candy Dot fabrics for the back, and used the excess for the sleeve and the label. I was going to write directly on the back of the quilt with my pigma pen, but the quilt police (MY HUSBAND OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED THERE?) said I "should go to the effort of a proper stitched-on label" (those were the exact words he used too. He scares me sometimes).




So yeah. I love this quilt. A lot. It's just so ... happy. While I was making it I was thinking about rainbows and unicorns and how sometimes people seem determined to a) not believe in rainbows and unicorns and/or b) kill your rainbows and unicorns with their misery and negativity. I work really hard to be happy and to lead a full life. I don't need negative nellies. No one does.



The working name for this quilt was "Don't f- with my rainbow" but I decided to keep it clean because yeah. Presbyterian.



So please allow me to introduce you to the family- and exhibition-friendly name of this quilt "Don't mess with my rainbow (or with my unicorn)". *quilt takes a bow*.

Pattern: My own design, using the traditional half-square triangle block

Piecing: courtesy of Rasant thread and a BlocLoc ruler

Fabric: 18 different Michael Miller Colour Couture solids, sold in a 5 inch roll; and black chambray. Backed in Candy Dots.

Quilting: Machine quilted, echo style, using Aurifil Mako 40/2 thread in grey (2605)

Batting: 100% cotton

Started: June 2014

Finished: August 2014