Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL

 

It’s time to say “Je ne sais QAL” because Sandra, mmmquilts announced her 2023 QAL, Rainbow Neighborhood and, once again, as I have for the past six years, will be participating which is now a rite of Spring and to celebrate her late father, the Famous Canadian, birthday. I had purchased her pattern last December and mentioned to her then that I thought this should be a QAL. As soon as I downloaded the pattern, I printed it which I hardly ever do and it’s been sitting on the studio desk since and knew I could start it once I decided on the fabrics. Imagine my surprise and happiness when Sandra first mentioned the QAL back on March 25th that the Rainbow Neighborhood was the pattern. I was at the GP House which meant the pattern and my stash was at home so I could only think or “mmmull” over my usual reasons for participating. Do I like the pattern, Big Yes, especially since I had the pattern and realized the blocks are 16” and the quilt blocks are 8” and not 4” as I thought they were; can I use fabric from my stash, I’m pretty sure I do but have to wait until I’m at home which won’t be for several days; and since I’m doing the throw size, the schedule for completion is doable since a block a week is sewn until the end of May and then have the month of June to assemble the top for the parade on June 30th. We have two vacations planned during the QAL so the chances of having a finished quilt may be slim but at least you only need a top in order to be eligible to win one of the many great prizes Sandra has lined up. But the main reason for making Rainbow Neighborhood will be explained later at the end of the post.

On the drive home, I decided the fabric I was going to use was my stash of Alison Glass which was the perfect choice since I’ve accumulated stash especially from buying a nice selection of yardage and scraps online from a blogger who was having a destash sale. Once I was finally in my studio I was able to choose the nine colors for my Rainbow Neighborhood along with the background, sashing, border and cornerstones.

I am so happy that I can use my Alison Glass fabrics for Rainbow Neighborhood and I’m having a little tongue in cheek moment by naming my quilt Glass Houses. I have some charm squares for most of the colors and will be using them for the 8” quilt blocks along with the black and white print. The multi-color light print will be used for the sky for each house. I should mention that the yellow green solid is not an Alison Glass print and will be used for the cornerstones. If I do any deviation from the pattern, it will be the sashing and border due to only having one yard of the multi-color black print which I want to use as the border but I don’t like pieced borders which I would have to do since I need at least 60”.

The official start of the Rainbow Neighborhood QAL is April 3rd and I’ve already started after checking with Sandra to see if there was a sequence as to which house to make and there’s not, really. My first block is already done and the cutting and sewing was easy but I need to be better with the quilt blocks measuring 8.5”. I do love that the house blocks are 16” finished, my sewing is much more accurate with large patches. I did press all of the seams open, except for the rows but in the future, will only do it for the 8” quilt blocks. My chimneys did not line up with the roof lines as well as I would have liked so pressing these two rows so the seams will nest might be better. My plan is to make three more blocks before we leave on vacation on the 12th so I will be on schedule once we return.

We did spend half of March at the GP House which the darling Granddaughter did a wonderful job babysitting us and we also celebrated her sixth birthday. Once we were home from our last visit and before I started working on the Rainbow Neighborhood QAL, I did finish my March top for the CountryThreads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. My plan is to make this a Patchwork Blankie by backing it with a pink plush which has been hanging around the studio. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use Jinny Janome since I haven’t sewn plush with her yet and Juki Junebug is stored away in the dining room or the formal sewing room now. BTW, the problems which I had with Juki Junebug could not be fixed by the last shop and they wanted to ship it to shop in Alabama who said they could fix the thread cutter plus the foot pedal problem. I decided I could live with these problems rather than spend any more money. There would be certain quilts, such as this patchwork blankie, that Juki Junebug could still do. It’s just a matter of setting her up on the dining room table which I may be now in a mood to do.

As mentioned earlier in this Post that I had a really good reason for wanting to make Glass Houses, aka, Rainbow Neighborhood is because I thought it would be the perfect wall hanging to go with my Petal Pop quilt which was finished last year. The plan then was that this quilt would be for the darling Granddaughter and now with the perfect wall hanging to go with it, this will be her new bedroom ensemble. After all, she’s now the big “6” and it’s time for a change.