This trifecta of awesome was born out of a cup of tea with Leslie S. of the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild (OMQG). We were chatting about quilts, and she was telling me about her having recently joined the OMQG. In the course of our chitchat, and inspired by the Toronto Guild's recent #quiltsforrefugees efforts, she decided to bring the initiative to Ottawa and organized a challenge for people to donate homemade quilts for recently arrived refugees.
With that challenge thrown down, I got sewing! First off was a series of log cabin patches for a collective quilt effort being put together with the OMQG. And with those done, I started my own project. Rainbow (as usual) was the name of the game, so I paired panels of color graded strips of fabric with more neutral panels appliqued with fabric scraps from different guild members (gathered during a sew-in we did to work on our different projects together).
The applique patches and the homemade binding were two things I had never done before, and am very pleased by the outcome of both maiden efforts. The back of the quilt is striped flannel to keep people warm, along with a wonky border of red stripes (since the flannel piece did not cover the quilt face completely).
All in all, I am pleased to have challenged myself to quickly come up with something that was cheerful and comfortable for a new arrival to Canada, and to have incorporated two new techniques into the execution of the project. Hope it finds a happy home!