Contained Chaos

I have a finish! It’s another mini but it’s still a finish!
The inspiration for this mini came from the Aurifil September Designer’s Block by Pat Wys. This photo is the one Pat made:

The block is a combination of Friendship Star and Rail Fence blocks. I thought I could expand it and do it in rainbow colors. I’d been contemplating a rainbow mini for a few months but didn’t know what I wanted to do. So, I pulled up Electric Quilt and put the design that was in my head in the computer. And I loved it! I changed the background and main fabric placements and added a few more design elements. I think that they make this quilt a bit unique. Then I started sorting my scraps.

Such gorgeous buckets of rainbow goodness! I made scrappy slabs using those sorted scraps. The technique is based off of a tutorial by Kelly of My Quilt Infatuation. I was able to see her scrappy rainbow version in person and was inspired to use her technique.
Scrappy yellow slab:

The Rail Fence sections are 1 1/2 inch wide strips and the scrappy slabs gave such a cool look to these strips. For the texty background, I used random lengths to create the 1 1/2 inch strips. I wanted to continue that scrappy look and I love the movement it gave to the whole design.

In my stash, I found these fun choices for the backing – Schoolies, Kids Fit to Print Balloons, and It’s a Party Dots in yellow #shopyourownstash:

I had to go with those Schoolies dots. It had all the colors that were on the front and matched everything perfectly.

I decided to quilt around each Friendship Star square and then did some wavy quilting parallel to the diagonal placement of the stars.

The wavy quilting looks awesome on the back!
Time for the photo bombs of the mini itself:

It is now hanging up in my sewing room next to my Kitty Mini Quilt. I love how they look together. 🙂

I’m entering this one in the Mini category of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side. So, pop on over and place your vote starting November 1st.