Under the Rainbow

Quilt #30

Under the Rainbow - 72" x 72"

Way back in April, 1997, I won thirty-four - 10” Pinetree blocks in a Block of the Month raffle at our guild. I made the two extra blocks for a 6 x 6 setting.

10" Pinetree Block

The blocks sat on the shelf for many years before inspiration came. I was reading a quilting magazine when I came across a picture of a quilt by Georgia Bonesteel.

After seeing the picture, it inspired me to try my hand at designing something similar using my pinetree blocks.  Georgia's quilt was hand quilted, mine is machine quilted and I'm not sure if I used any of her techniques but it certainly was very different from any quilt I had made.

This was my process.

I made a template with curved edges that would be turned over to the front of the quilt.

detail

Muslin or cotton strips were added to the edge of the blocks to make them the size of my template. I tried to match the background fabrics that were used in each individual block, even though only small portions of it would show in the end.

detail

The blocks were sandwiched individually, cut into the shape of my curved template, and stitched and turned using the pillowcase method. I then stitched-in-the-ditch around each block, added a curved line from one edge to another and filled the whole block echo quilting that line.

edge of quilt

The blocks were sewn together and the curved edges were turned down and hand stitched in place.

back of quilt

I dyed muslin in twelve rainbow colours. Large squares were cut diagonally into triangles, separated and stitched to it's next door neighbour on the colour wheel.

detail - back of quilt

Each block was backed by one of these large half-square triangles, with the colours visible on the front framing the blocks.

I worked on this quilt, off and on, several times before finally completing it in 2008.

You can see where I even had to change the date from 2007 to 2008.  Not a very neat label but, at least, it is labeled.

label

This was my inspiration:

A quick search online just confirmed that the quilt I saw in a magazine article is actually on the cover of Georgia Bonesteel's book Lap Quilting Lives!

Documentation:

Quilt Name: Under the Rainbow

Description: 6 x 6 setting of pinetree blocks framed by rainbow coloured curved frames

Pattern: 10" Pinetree Block

Size: 72” x 72”

Fabrics: 100% cotton, muslin and hand-dyed muslin

Predominant colours: Blocks – green, white backgrounds. Red, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow.

Construction Techniques: Individual 10” blocks sandwiched, stitched pillowcase method, quilted and then stitched together. Edges were turned over and hand stitched down to form a frame around each block.

Back: hand-dyed muslin in rainbow colours set diagonally

Batting: Polyester

Edge finish: Back turned to front

Quilting:  Machine echo quilted

Quilted by: Terry Whyte

Sleeve: No

Label: Yes

Date completed: 2008

Inspiration: Georgia Bonesteel

Quilt History: Displayed in 2009 Kirkland Lake Mile of Gold Quilters Guild Annual show and at Quilt Day 5 – Englehart in 2009.

Maker: Terry Whyte