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Monday, April 11, 2011

My First Bottled Rainbow I SPY Quilt

I've been lurking through other blogs lately at the many creations of Bottled Rainbow quilts.  I wanted to try making my own too.  I loved the idea of all the colors and using up scraps which I have a ton of.  I also wanted to make my quilt be an "I Spy" quilt as well since I use a lot of whimsical prints and this particular quilt will be going to a little girl.  I ordered my Kona solids off Etsy.com and spent a whole afternoon one Saturday matching up my scraps to my solids.
I also had a lot of batting scraps so my only expense for this quilt was the purchase of the solids and the unbleached muslin I used for the backgrounds.
I cut my Kona solids into 3" strips and sewed them onto the unbleached muslin rectangles.  The next step was to sew the rectangles onto the batting pieces.....
I used a wide zig zag stitch to do this....
I then trimmed the excess batting....
The bichon was restless with me spending so much time at the sewing machine so I put his dog bed upon the table and he was content.  He could watch me, look at the patio door and be content!
So content, that after a few minutes he was snuggled down and snoring away!!!
I wanted the "frayed edge" look to my quilt so I sewed in about 1/8 inch around the borders of each scrap piece.....
Below are all nine of my blocks.....








After all the blocks were completed I sewed them together.  I originally had the black block in the middle but messed up as I was sewing them together.  Since the batting was so thick, my stitch kept getting tighter as I sewed, so there was no way I was going to rip out my mistakes and start over.  So this is it how it ended up......
I then put the back on the quilt.  I had some heavy green cotton, almost a twill.  I chose this fabric to make the quilt feel even thicker knowing this quilt will get used a lot outdoors or taken to the park and needed the extra padding for comfort!
This next picture show how "chunky" it turned out even after trimming the seams....
and the bichon is in my space again!
I chose not to bind this quilt since it was so thick.  I used yarn and tied the corners of each block...... 
I then ran it through the washer and dryer twice to let it fray up so I could trim the many strings.....
I'm loving the look of the frayed edges!!!!
I only had one scrap of fabric that came loose that I will have to hand stitch back into place...
and here it is all completed, folded up and ready to go to a special little baby named Macyn.  This small quilt will hopefully be carted to the park and out into the backyard for lots of fun in the sun this summer!

Scoll down to see who I have linked this post to......

29 comments:

  1. Your quilt is lovely! Thanks for including the bits about the process and what you encountered, I plan on making one soon and am glad to know a bit of what to expect!

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  2. What a beautiful quilt! Love the colors and process!

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  3. So beautiful and inspiring! I love the beautiful colors of all the wonderful fabrics that you used!

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  4. I think that is the cutest bottled rainbow quilt I've seen so far. Great idea to combine that with an I-spy quilt.

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  5. adorable! I keep wanting to start one of these.... Yours turned out so great!!

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  6. I love it, especially that red flower! :)

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  7. What a fantastic idea!! The prints you used are so clever and I can see that being one well used quilt! Great work and thank you for sharing!!

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  8. It looks great! great fabric selection!

    I have a fine art photography giveaway on my blog. Just leave a comment to win. check it out!
    http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/04/fine-art-photography-giveaway-by.html

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  9. It looks great!! Love that your bichon fell asleep on the table. Mine would do the same :)

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  10. this quilt is amazing and must have taken you forever!! I am going to feature it as a handmade feature, so feel free to go grab a button! And thanks so much for linking up to Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings. www.ladybug-blessings.com

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  11. gorgeous, i love quilts! i wish i knew how to make one. great job! thanks for sharing this at my party!

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  12. Oh my goodness! I love examining all the different fabrics in your photos...so cute and creative! I think the black square is my favorite. You did a wonderful job!

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  13. Gorgeous! I've never seen one put together like that, what a great quilt!

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  14. What a beautiful quilt! And so perfect for a little one, with all the colors and little pictures to look at!

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  15. What a FUN idea!! And totally customizable for whatever your kiddo is into. Thanks so much for linking up at The Little Birdie! I'll be featuring your quilt as one of my favorites this weekend! :)

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  16. Love this quilt! So much fun with all the lovely colours. Thanks for sharing the process. Bet Macyn will totally adore it!

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  17. Wow this is so beautiful! Lovely job!

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  18. Oh my cuteness!!!! I may have to do this! I love the frayed edges!! Thanks for linking to fabric Tuesday :)

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  19. Hey, stopping in from QS. This is FABULOUS! I love it!!

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  20. I featured you on Toast of Tuesday!! Come grab a button!

    http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/04/toast-of-tuesday_19.html

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  21. Oh my goodness--absolutely amazing! I LOVE this!!

    I'll be featuring tomorrow at www.she-wears-flowers.com. Please stop by! ;)

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  22. I just love this! It is so beautiful! thanks for sharing it at Fantastic Friday. I hope that you will join us again this week.

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  23. That is gorgeous! What a fabulous quilt with great patterns and colors!

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  24. This is so beautiful! I love all your squares and the color combinations! So pretty. I'm sure they will love it.

    justenoughstyle.blogspot.com

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  25. That is really wonderful quilt! You found great way to do it! Thank you for an idea and inspiration!

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  26. I love this quilt. You did a fantastic job with all those colors. I've been making quilts for many years and matching up colors has always been the hardest part for me. I've never seen a quilt like this before, so I've added it to my bucket list of quilts to make. Thanks for posting the whole process.

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  27. Amazing and well done, Im also glad to see you have a lil helper too.....Ive a rescue dog and rescue bird, both are I think from the planet clingon but I love em to bits.

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  28. What an interesting quilt. You can't take your eyes away. It keeps you focused constantly from one block to the next. Love it!!

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