Rainbow Mix Tape {January do. Good Stitches}

This Friday's Finish is the January quilt for my do. Good Stitches group, the NURTURE circle.  It was my month to be quilter again and I chose a foundation pieced QAYG design.

The choice for this month's block was natural since I have been on a string quilt kick lately and the best way to make string quilts is with foundation piecing; as long as we were going to foundation piece anyway it might as well be onto batting.  The fact the this drastically reduced the amount of work I as the quilter had to do was beside the point ;)

Everyone sent in their two string blocks pieced onto various types of batting by Feb. 9th and I got the quilt top assembled that very night! I tried several different arrangements but this rainbow one was my favorite by far.

I pressed the block seams open (lesson learned- not all battings are hot-iron safe.) Then applied the backing and quilted along the open seams with the triple zig zag stitch on my machine. This held the layers together and tamed the bulky seams that are the nemesis of QAYG.

Because of the foundation piecing the only quilting visible on the back is the grid of zig zag quilting that holds the layers together.

Our circle makes quilts for My Very Own Blanket, a charity that provides quilts for children in foster care. One of our members was recently able to visit them and as a result of what she learned we are trying this year to make more boy-friendly quilts and to include matching pillowcases with our larger size quilts.

Our members did a great job of picking super cute, boyish fabrics in the strings they used, like these whales and teepees.

Since I used a sheet for backing I actually had a store-bought pillowcase that matched it. I thought it was a little too plain, so I cut off the end of the sleeve and made a custom one instead. (My pillowcase tutorial is here.)

The quilt finished at 48" x 60" and will be shipped inside its pillowcase to the MVOB workshop.  Huge thank you to the ladies of the Nurture circle, who are always good sports and get their blocks sewn up in record time. Thank You!

If you are interested in making a similar quilt my original tutorial can be found here.

Linking to Friday Finishes at Crazy Mom Quilts.