Completing the rainbow

This weekend, I managed to finish all of the rainbow blocks for Biscuit's Hide and Seek Spectrum Quilt!

I finished the bottom row of blocks last weekend, so up first this time was the top row of blocks: red, orange, and yellow.

Open the doors, and what do you get?

Then, the middle row of blocks: pink, black, and green.

Piggies and cows and frogs, oh my!

And then they all got put together. I decided to follow the order Anna Maria Horner uses in the pattern because it worked for me: black in the middle and then follow the spectrum around in a clockwise direction.

Matt was sweet enough to serve as my model.

Flip it upside down, and you can see it with the doors open. I'm so pleased with how it's turning out so far, and I think it's going to be a great tummy time quilt for Biscuit.

I also managed to finally decide how I wanted to do the sashing and backing. In the original pattern, AMH calls for using white muslin for both the sashing and the backing, but aside from not being in love with the look, it also didn't seem like a very exciting or practical choice for a blanket that a baby's going to play all over.

I thought about using a rainbow fabric of some sort for the sashing, like one of these beauties by Ann Kelle:

 Photo courtesy of Hawthorne Threads

Photo courtesy of Hawthorne Threads

But I was afraid it wouldn't match the colors like I wanted and could be overwhelming. Then, I discovered the Hide and Seek Spectrum Quilt that Stitched in Color made:

Photo courtesy of Stitched in Color

First, I love the muted colors she used, and how she changed up some of the windows to use the patterned fabric on the outside. But I also loved how she used a linen for the sashing. I think it will play nicely off the rainbow of colors and still allow me to do some decorative stitching in the sashing, as AMH does in the original. I'm going to go with a khakier linen than Stitched in Color's.

For the backing, I decided to bring in some brown since there's not a brown block on the front. I wanted a little bit of a pattern but nothing overwhelming and nothing that would take away from the front, so I just purchased Robert Kaufman's Metro Living Rings in Chocolate from Fabricworm.

Photo courtesy of Fabricworm

I can't wait for it to arrive so I can get started on finishing this baby up!

UPDATE: For a list of the solid colors I used in the quilt, see this post.