My goal last week was to to organize my fabric scraps to avoid the overflowing going on in my back room.  I took each color bin aside and cut scraps into squares of varying sizes, from 1.5″ inches to 3.5″ inches.

If the scrap was smaller than a 1.5″ square, it got eliminated.  Perhaps I should have donated the bucket of tiny colored fabric bits to a kindergarten class, but this time, I just tossed them in the garbage.   The scrap cleansing resulted in boxes that are organized.  In addition, I have various ziplock bags of pre-cut squares in lots of bright colors.  Which brings me to my next quilt.

I took the multicolored 2″ squares and played around with sections of rainbow colors.  I was finally experimenting with a colorwash rainbow quilt, something I’ve wanted to do for awhile now.

A rainbow wash quilt that was designed, sampled and rejected for the time being.

I came up with this rainbow patchy doll quilt design.  I suppose it was colorful and pretty, and would have been great on a different day, but I got bored.  I just wasn’t in a full-on rainbow state of mind.  I’m sure I’ll tackle this sort of style another time,  but not right now.So…last week, I took all those carefully positioned squares that had been untouched on the table..and I messed them up!  It was quite liberating to end this onslaught of organized color.

I pushed aside many squares and went for more modern simplicity.  Look below to see the simple rainbow drip result of my playing around.  It reminds me of rain dripping down the front windshield like bangs.

 Rainbow bangs doll quilt for A Doll Like Me, 21″ x 25″ 

I like that it’s not my usual style.  I made pillars of colored squares, being careful not to repeat any colors, but to leave them at different heights.  I used some coveted low volume fabrics that play nicely with the bright colors and let the colors breath a little.  The quilt is a bit stiff but very cozy, and will soften up after I wash it.

A close up of the quilting in the low volume fabrics, which add so much dimension to the quilt.

While I was piecing the top, I thought up ways to best quilt this vertical design.  I wanted to add depth to the quilt while bringing the colored squares into focus.  I didn’t sketch things ahead of time, knowing that I was in the mood to play and have fun with the hand motions.  There are zig zags, loops and swirls for each column to stand out from the crowd.

I think it worked out very well, even if my machine was acting up due to the double batting choice that I made. I used a new type of batting and the needle kept gumming up.  This hasn’t ever happened before so I’m done with using this batting brand.  I wanted to scream but I persisted, and all in one day, a new doll quilt was born.  Despite the technical issues, I do love how the quilted lines are puffier than usual
I chose a purple fabric,  one of my favorite colors, for the backing.  Finally, a scrappy purple binding frames the entire piece.  I really love how this one came out!

I’m playing around with more rainbow 16 patch squares as well as postage stamp quilts.  Stay tuned for those designs to come.  Here’s just a little taste of what I’ve been playing with these days. Some days I’m liking this, and other days, this is also feeling a little too crisp.  Bear with me as I wrestle it to a final design.