Rainbow Spotlight

I've been so excited to share this most recent mini quilt I did. It's called Rainbow Spotlight and I made it for my secret partner in the Post Sewing Summit Swap. Mini quilts are a great place to try a new technique, and they can pack a strong visual punch. Plus, they have the added bonus of being done quickly - almost instant gratification! What a treat it was to come back from Sewing Summit brimming with inspiration and jump right into making something special for someone else! My secret partner turned out to be Tracey, who said she liked bright colors. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to do a rainbow quilt, which has been stirring around in my mind for a while.

I started off with these: some charm squares from the Color Wheel Swap hosted by Kati.

From there, they turned into this:

After a couple more (ahem, important) steps, it became this!

I was so focused on getting the inset circle right that I forgot to take photos of that part. Although I was a little nervous to tackle it, I promise, it's not as hard as it seems, and once I reviewed what Weeks and Bill had taught me, I was good to go! It was super quick to quilt - I did tighter quilting in the circle for more definition, and looser stippling in the background - and then bound it in Mini Mikes Random Pencil Check (love this print!). The backing was a rainbow stripe print I have had in my stash forever:

I couldn't wait to get it off to my partner (with some extra goodies for good measure)!

And in an interesting turn of fate, not only was Tracey my partner, but I was hers too! She sent me the sweetest package:

She knew my favorite color is orange, and I mentioned that I love Joel Dewberry fabrics - seriously, his heirloom line is incredible and I bought a bunch of it on the shop hop while at Summit. Look how she combined two of my favorite things! I love the patchwork pouch she made - and it's huge! AND she included some extras - Hullabaloo fat quarters and this cute zippered cupcake pouch - love it! (Oh, and there was even a produce bag included too that she had made, but it didn't make the picture because I immediately put it with my reusable shopping bags - gotta love something pretty and practical!). Thanks again, Tracey!

And yay - it's party time! Amy, fellow quilter and North Carolinian, as well as my new friend from Sewing Summit, is brilliant to have come up with this fun event to share and inspire each other with a mini quilt linky party. Be sure to hop on over and check out what everyone has been working on. Thanks for hosting this Amy - I've had so much fun participating!