The Rainbow

White negative space makes me very happy, especially when the other fabrics are so vibrant.

This quilt is a class on Craftsy called Magical Blocks out of the box.  I started it in 2015 and finished just in time to give it away at Christmas.

The size is 62 x 84 - just barely large enough to cover the top of a queen sized mattress.

I backed it with cuddly purple flannel which it appears that I failed to document.  Sigh.  December is not a good month for remembering all the things.

I did a lot of walking feet to outline the blocks, but then went in with a darning food and made each block unique.  I did it all in white thread.  That was scary on such a dark back.

I'm linking up to Free Motion by the River

Leah Day's Building Blocks

Date: January 1 - October 26, 2014

Size:  48 x 56

Pattern: Building Blocks by Leah Day

Reason:  I love that I can FMQ on my domestic machine and although stippling is wonderful, I wanted to learn new techniques.

Fabric / Best Buys:  Almost entirely scraps.  I only dipped into my stash for the yellow and blue and white.

Thoughts:  This was a really interesting class and learning process.  Even though I've FMQed many quilts before I could feel myself getting more comfortable as the class went on.

I used a 2" binding strip instead of 2½".  It made a nice thin binding.

Lessons Learned:

1)  My sewing machine does not like to FMQ with poly as the top thread (it breaks lots).  Poly in the bobbin works just fine.

2)  Pencil washes off of white fabric

3)  I don't like premarking quilting patterns, but it really helps with accuracy so suck it up.

4)  Don't undo your work just because it's not perfect.  The triumph is in the learning and growing.

5)  If doing different colour ways front and back try to have ONE colour in common to make choosing a binding colour easier.  Just sayin.