Rainbow Sprouts Quilt

Rainbow Sprouts is a multicolored, beginner-friendly, scrapbuster quilt pattern that was first published in Make Modern Magazine's Issue #68.

Rainbow Sprouts

Rainbow Sprouts is now available as a standalone pattern in my Etsy Shop.

Made with Island Batik's Basics, Rainbow Sprouts is the answer to the question - Why do leaves have to be (mostly) green?

Yellow, Orange & Red

Each leaf has a dark and a light fabric and the number of those combinations is only limited by your imagination.

Teal and Green too

Finishing at 61" by 84", Rainbow Sprouts uses 16 fabrics (8 light and 8 dark) plus Solid Black (Stems) and Egg White (Background). 

It is an excellent way to showcase your favorite fabrics. I am showing off Island Batik Basics including Chambray & Harbor (Blues), Flamingo & Candy (Pinks), Banana & Taxi (Yellows), Chameleon & Parakeet (Teals), Mystic & Caribbean (Aquas), Ballerina & Rosewood (Reddish Purples), Marmalade & Flame (Oranges), and Pistachio & Apple (Greens). 

Love these Colors

To make Rainbow Sprouts, you need 4.5 yards of background fabric and the rest can easily come from your stash. Make it scrappy with many fabrics or control the chaos with a monochromatic color scheme. 

Thank you, Paul

I had fun making this quilt and these hues are yummy enough to eat. The pattern is super simple but that is not all.

Glaze (Island Batik Neutral) Backing

Let me show you the Bonus Project. The off-cuts make a smaller quilt that is cute as a button.

Bonus Project

I am calling it Rainbow Seeds. We went to the children's playground to take some fun pictures.

Rainbow Seeds, 44" by 55"

Island Batik fabrics are wider than most fabrics, so I still had some leftovers. I used them to piece a fun backing, making sure to use every bit of the gorgeous fabrics.

Fun Backing

The Rainbow Sprouts Quilt Pattern is detailed with step by step guidance and colored graphics for each step.  I am offering it at a 25% discount till Sunday, 5/10/26. 

Yes, of course there is a giveaway too.  If you'd like a copy of the Rainbow Sprouts Quilt Pattern, leave me a comment on this post answering any of the following three questions.

What is the best Mother's Day gift you have received? What is the best Mother's Day gift that you gave? What is the best book you've read in 2026?

If you don't want to participate in the giveaway, leave me a comment anyway but mention the no giveaway thing. I will announce the winners next week.

Update - The two winners are #1 and #14. Emails have been sent.

I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar. 

Polite Society

Welcome to Polite Society.

Polite Society

Designed in EQ8 and made with the Island Batik collection, Essence, Polite Society is a precut-friendly design published in Precut Quilts Made Easy (A Quilter's World publication).

This is a beautiful collection. Look for it in your local quilt shop. For background, I used the Island Batik Neutral Egg White. The binding is another neutral named Glaze.

Published

I quilted using a variegated thread and my trusted walking foot. You guessed it - my favorite squiggly stitch :-) 

Beginner Friendly Quilt Pattern

 

Polite Society is a super easy, beginner-friendly, jelly roll pattern that you can put together easily without any special tools/templates.

The magazine (which is available in stores) has several other precut patterns. I recommend that you check it out.

Check out my Etsy Shop for many precut-friendly patterns as these.

Yamini

Niko

In Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) updates,  I completed Red Blocks for March.

Did you notice that the blocks for January & February are different. Well, I am working on two RSC quilts - separated into cools and warms. The cool colors + white background will make a log cabin quilt and the warm colors + black background will make a "to be named" quilt.

I also picked out my pinks for April. Sharing with all my favorite linky parties (see full list on the sidebar)including Angela's RSC.

Island Batik Pinks

Magically, Nature too got Angela's memo.  All pictures were taken this week.

Lilac

Tulip

Azalea

Pink Dogwood

In other news (and my excuse for no blogging activity in a month), I traveled to my alma mater to reunite with old classmates and reminisce about fun times on and off-campus. 

Glass(es) Reunion

I hope you get to hug your friends. 

Aidan

Meet Aidan!

Green Stars

I made a baby quilt (don't know the baby's name) 

Starting here

I have not met the mother (unless you count meeting on Teams)

Design Wall

So when Lina (not her real name) mentioned that she was going on maternity leave, I asked her if there was color/theme to the nursery.

Striped Binding

Green and Dinosaurs, Lina replied. And THAT was enough :-D 

Dinosaur Centers

I found loads of cute green fabrics in my stash. I love that gnome fabric, which I got from the last Quiltcon.

Many cute fabrics

While I had enough print fabric to make the star centers, I did not have enough for a dinosaur backing.

This dinosaur backing came from my MIL's stash (some of which I inherited when she passed away). Isn't it amazing that the universe provides whatever we need, when we need it.

Here are some more pictures.

You are adorable!

Playtime

Aidan is just the right quilt for St.Patrick's Day and Easter, which will be here before we know it.

Aidan finished at 41" square

Labelled

Aidan warms my heart. Hope Aidan brings joy to the little one!

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Joy is in short supply these days but I found some lately, when Bloomtown Quilt made its way to a baby the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The mom (a friend of my sister) was kind enough to send me a picture.

Aww...

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According to Angela, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for March is Red. I have gathered my red scraps. I am sure I will need more. Thankfully, Island Batik scraps abound.

Reds for March

I will be linking with Angela's Linky Party on Saturday and all my other favorites. See full list on the sidebar. 

What brought you joy, lately? Please let me know. Joy shared is joy multiplied.

Rock & Roll Quilt

In May of last year, Mary Helen reached out to me with a request for a T-Shirt Quilt.  I said Yes, but it would have to wait till the end of the year.

I started the day after Thanksgiving and mailed the completed quilt the day after Christmas.

On the banks of the Potomac

The box I received contained about 18 t-shirts, most of them were never worn and in excellent condition. I cut them up - all of them. 

Then came the tiresome task of stabilizing them. I used about a bolt and a half of SF-101. 

Stabilizing T-shirts

Layering & Ironing

Once all pieces were stabilized, the design process could begin.  Of course, the stars would take center stage but the different sizes had to be reconciled.

I used the t-shirt backs to make checkerboard coping strips and used them as a design element.

Checkerboard

 

Captivating!

It was time to move to the Design Wall, although it was impossible to cram all these legends into a tight space.

Design Wall

The blue/white tie-dye t-shirt (Led Zeppelin) needed some white fabric but none of the t-shirts had any white. Paul let me use one of his old t-shirts (frayed crewneck) to make the blue/white coping strip.

Added White

The grid was three wide by four tall and I was aiming for about 60" wide by 80" tall.  Working on one row at a time, I added coping strips as needed.

Flimsy

Thick t-shirt fabric, made heavier with stabilizer does make the quilting a challenge. I switched to a 90/14 needle and quilted from the backing side using the square grid of the printed fabric as a guide.

Backing and Label

Here are some close-ups.

I chose this backing so that I could use the squares as a quilting grid.

I am told that the quilt was well-received.  Mary Helen texted "my friend absolutely loves the quilt"

Mission Accomplished.

In other news, I completed my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  After considering and discarding several designs, I decided to make super simple log cabin blocks. 

10" Log Cabin Block

Work in Progress

Thank you Island Batik

I will be sharing with Angela's Linky Party and Quilting Jetgirl's Favorite Finish and others too. See full list on the sidebar.

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Last week, we visited Mount Vernon on our way to Richmond. Just a couple of days to get away and celebrate Paul's birthday.

Mount Vernon - Looking at Maryland across the Potomac

Calm before the Storm

In Richmond, we visited the Civil War Museum constructed around the ruins of the Tredegar Foundry. Some pictures from our visit.

 

I texted my daily Wordle to Mari, while we waited for our lunch. She texted back. 

Mari: Did you see the news? 

Me: No. We are visiting the Civil War Museum. What happened?

Mari: Don't see it. Enjoy your day.

We did see the news. It was everywhere. 

So many times, my name is misspelled as Pretti. Every time I hear it, I stop and think - did someone call me?

A former co-worker turned friend bought some zippered pouches and wrote me a check.

I am Pretti

This is a difficult time and I am not OK. 

Hugs to you. Hope you will hug me back.