Rainbow quilt - done!

Hot out of the dryer - the rainbow quilt in all its colorful glory!

Hey, the back is even centered pretty decently! :-)

I decided to go safe with the quilting - stippling with grey thread to match the background. I used my poor little mini quilt to test some options, and it is such a mess now. I tried stippling with the variegated thread (didn't like it), switched to grey thread and tried a sort of loopy linear thing (didn't love it), then tried pebbles (loved it, but it would have taken FOREVER). So, safe boring grey stippling won. And later, I will be spending several weekly conference calls picking out all that test quilting... I *will* have my mini quilt eventually!

I started off thinking of using some sort of rainbow stripe for the binding. But I couldn't find a fabric that was exactly right. So, I went with a scrappy binding made from a subset of the rainbow fabrics. Oh, I think it's awesome!!

How about some more glamor shots? I love how stippling always looks so much better after you wash the quilt - the imperfections just fade away...

Okay, just one more of that lovely binding (hand-stitched this time!) ....

I'm really thrilled to have this done. In two days, I will be flying to New York City for some work meetings, and I will be giving this quilt to Q, my dear friend and coworker. Q lives in Christchurch, NZ, which has been badly damaged by earthquakes in the past year. While Q and his family haven't been as severely affected as many others there, they've still had a lot of upheavals - Q is working from home full time because his office building was condemned (he hasn't even been able to retrieve anything from it since the earthquake!), several houses in his neighborhood are being torn down, etc. He mentioned in passing that his young son had been having some difficulties handling things, and when I saw Deb's post about the book You, Me & The Rainbow, it just clicked - I needed to buy that book, and make this quilt for them.

Actually, I bought two copies of the book - I hope to make another rainbow quilt for my daughter someday (perhaps not the exact same design). The message of the book is wonderful - it's all about using the colors to visualize comforting thoughts and loving feelings, and connections to the people you love, even if they are far away. Even as far away as New Zealand. :-)

Oh, and speaking of New York... when the dates were set for these work meetings, I was totally stoked to find out that there was a quilting event in the city the weekend before. I tried to convince my local buddies to come out there with me, but the price of airfare was just too crazy (boohoo!). So, I'll be dragging Q along with me to the afternoon event. Now you know what a great friend he really is, to agree to that! I'm really looking forward to it! It should be such a hoot to see Mark Lipinski interview Jay McCarroll! I love them both, and can't wait to see them in person.