Tuesday, May 29, 2012

A Rainbow Quilt : :

My Bottled Rainbows Quilt

Well, we were finally able to take those photos of my finished my Rainbow Quilt yesterday. I am so, so glad I waited until we were at one of our most favorite places -- Allegany State Park. As a family we have made so many memories running around this forest, playing in the waters, and teaching our children about the natural world. It was perfect!

My Bottled Rainbows Quilt

This quilt is really long! Once I measure it, I'll add that here for those of you who still might make one of your own and may be curious. You can find all the instruction for this quilt-along here, I had decided to join in pretty late in the game, but wanted to change up the block design a bit. Rather than sticking with square, rectangle, triangle scrap pieces to fill in each colored block, I had a mandala theme in mind. I started with a center piece or theme for each block and simply cut my scraps by hand or with my Go! Baby fabric cutter, to create a colorful design within each of my blocks. I am really happy with how it turned out!

When it came time for quilting, I took advantage of the many built-in stitches my new Janome has. This is one of my favorites!

BRQ Quilting Stitch

To see all of these blocks finally come together to create a finished quilt that I can share with my family and show all of you feels really, really good!

Bottled Rainbows Blocks

The rainbow of colors in this quilt are so beautiful! The back is finished and also bound with some of my favorite Riley Blake Chevrons from Pink Castle Fabrics and this rainbow bunting Michael Miller print from Cotton Blossom Farm.

BRQ -- Color!

BRQ

I remember mentioning that this quilt was a long time in the making in my last post -- almost a year from start to finish, but well worth the wait and work! If you click here you can look back through and see the previous posts on the makings of this quilt. I might just have to do that myself!

Bottled Rainbows Quilt

I hope you all had a special weekend!  Maureen

56 comments:

  1. Oh, Maureen, it's gorgeous! Yours has been my favorite version of this quilt and it's just so beautiful now that I see it all together. I wish my mind thought the way yours does for putting together the pieces into such lovely designs! Makes me want to get to my sewing room and get back to working on mine! Love the decorative stitch too!

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  2. such a cheerful quilt in such a pristine forest !

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  3. Lovely !!!! congrats!!!
    ♥♥♥

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  4. it's lovely to see it finished, and it really is beautiful!

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  5. My 2 year old daughter saw the picture of your quilt and her response was "COOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" Your work is beautiful.

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  6. You certainly picked a beautiful spot to take your pictures Maureen. It only adds to how wonderful this quilt is. Great job! =D

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  7. That quilt is spectacular! I absolutely love it....charming :)

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  8. It is gorgeous! I finished mine back in December and never got a chance to photograph it! It went straight to being used. Your pictures are always so stunning!

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  9. The quilt is really beautiful. I have seen quilts that are quilted and then put together with sashing, I like that idea for large ones, so will have to try it. I also need to practice on my machine, lots of great stitches to embellish with.

    Debbie

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  10. Stunning! I LOVE this quilt. Really love it. Great job!

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  11. Simply beautiful, most people wouldn't appreciate all the time and energy and patience it took to complete this quilt, except us die hard quilters. It is really pretty....and on another subject where is Allegheny State park? near Pittsburgh? that is my hometown, but I haven't been back for several years. just wondering...

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    1. Thank you Roey!!

      Where we go is much more North than Pittsburgh. It actually runs through both North Western Pennsylvania and New York State. You can enter the park through Bradford, Pa or Salamanca, Ny. I am not sure why the spelling of the State Park is Allegany, rather than Allegheny (like the National Forest)-- my husband would have to explain that to me! I'm guessing they are too separate forests, although very closely located to one another? It's confusing!! :)

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  12. love the quilt...the colours are stunning...the venue for photos also looks like a wonderful place

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  13. I join the others on saying this quilt is simply gorgeous and it's been fun to watch you work on it. The work itself is stunning and then the setting you chose is nature at its best. Perfection!

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  14. Pat you on the back to take the time and patience to work on a piece of true art. Lovely photo and did you use it that day????

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  15. This picture is so pretty, green grass, trees and just a beautiful forest scene and oh yeah that quilt in the middle of it is beautiful also!!

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  16. Just Gorgeous!! Bravo on a beautiful quilt! And beautiful photos!

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  17. I just love this quilt! I really like the starburst stitching!!

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  18. Lovely!!! I have not seen previous posts and I love your take on the bottled rainbows idea with using mandalas. That last pic is my fav - nothing more beautiful than a quilt in the wild. congratulations!

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  19. WOW, it is an amazing rainbow!

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  20. I love it! Your work always makes me smile. I love the setting go your pictures! It reminds me of a book I used to read called Morgan and Me. So pretty.

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  21. This is beautiful!!! You have such a great eye for color and design. I love the stitches that your Janome can do! I need a Janome fairy to drop one at my door, too!

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  22. Hello,this is so stunning +
    thanks for sharing it with us!

    msstitcher1214@yahoo.com

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  23. that turned out wonderfully! i love the idea of a decorative stitch as quilting, and to see it in action here is great!

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  24. It's gorgeous, and such a fab location for the pics too!

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  25. I love everything about this quilt. The design, the colors, stitching, the way it's laid out, the chevron binding all comes together to make a beautiful work of art! Well done, Maureen!! :)

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  26. Such a beautiful site. Love the special quilting stitch you showcased. We all should be playing around more!

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  27. wow perfect quilt. How you stich you piece on the bloc to be sure it won't brake on washing machine? Hand stitching??? It's very pretty love this ... so inspiring! Maybe i'll try it as a long project to

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  28. Lovely job! That stitch on the machine is gorgeous!

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  29. That looks so amazing! Is it wrong to be a little in love with it! =D

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  30. I might have to steal this one Maureen! Amazing job!!

    Love,
    Anne

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  31. What a stunner! This one was worth the wait... congrats!

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  32. beautiful quilt in a beautiful setting!

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  33. Looks so pretty - such a god job.
    x

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  34. Wow! Gorgeous. I love the mandala patterns and the colors.

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  35. I need this quilt!!! Pattern or tutorial coming?

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  36. This is incredible! I love the colors!

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  37. It's absolutely lovely Maureen!!

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  38. This is a quilt to be treasured :) I love everything about it - the fact that you took the Bottled Rainbows idea and gave it your own twist, the decorative stitches, and the rainbow chevron binding. Fantastic all around!

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  39. Really, it is a beautiful quilt. I love the binding and backing, too. It's so nice to see a big project completed.

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  40. What number stitch on the 12,000 did you use and what weight thread? I love to use the built in stitches for quilting. Your quilt is awesome.

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  41. Maureen, your quilt became so beautiful! Amazing blocks with so beautiful colours and the quilting is just perfect!
    Your new project in your latest post seems to be fun - looking forward to see what you are up to! x Teje

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  42. That stitch is reeallly great. Thugging around with different stitches, you gangster you. I like.

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  43. I love all the bottled rainbow quilts I've seen, but this one is truly stunning. So original and beautiful, I love it.

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  44. It turned out amazing! I love it!!

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  45. Gorgeous!!!! I love it! Really, it is just beautiful! I also have many fond memories of summers spent camping in Alleghany State park while I was growing up! Perfect backdrop for an amazing quilt!~

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  46. oh maureen i love this quilt so much! it is beautiful and it was the reason i started following your blog initially. i saw one of your bottled rainbow blocks and i was so astounded by your creativity i had to see more! and now i follow you because you are so talented and such a great person! i am so very happy you are my friend! xoxoxo congrats on the beautiful quilt! xo

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  47. Wow. I'm so blown away by this quilt! It is gorgeous, and I'm so excited that you finished! It makes me want to get moving on my blocks!

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  48. I'm just now finding your stunning quilt via Flickr. It is so beautiful and I love your post about it as well. The background looks magical!! So glad I found your blog!

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