Andra Tutto Bene

Yesterday while sewing a stack of somewhat subdued colours into half-square triangles, I could hear a little voice whispering, "Pssst...you know there is a rainbow in the basket behind you."

I ignored it as long as I could, but somehow that basket ended up on my sewing table and sure enough...out spilled a rainbow...of Hoffman 1895 Bali watercolours.

The previous day, I had read a post on the Aurifil blog about a small wallhanging designed by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of  Whole Circle Studio.  The post says, "Andrà Tutto Bene (Everything Will Be Okay in English) was inspired by the words and beautiful artwork created by children in Italy during the Covid19 pandemic in 2020. While children and their families in Italy were quarantined in their homes, many displayed rainbow-themed banners and posters featuring the phrase "Andrà Tutto Bene"to send messages of hope and positivity."  We could all use a bit of that.  Sheri supplied a foundation pattern for the rainbow, which I printed on newsprint for easy removal.

The 1895 Watercolours are perfect, especially the blue for the sky.

The original design featured clouds, but part-way through sewing I decided I would switch out the clouds for a world. I searched out my largest paper coffee filters to make positioning the circle super easy.

Then I printed an outline of the world to that size, and cut out the shapes to applique.

They were fused in place, and stitched down using clear Aurifil monofilament.

I sewed completely around the circle and matching lining, and cut an X in the back near the top where I could turn the world inside out.   It was appliqued in place using the clear monofilament.

I printed "Andra Tutto Bene" in a script font in Word, printing 200 point size letters in mirror image so I could trace them onto fusible web.  Cutting out the letters was the slowest part of this project.  They got stitched down using free motion quilting.

Then the fun began: choosing thread colours to quilt the rainbow. I am using all 50 weight Aurifil in this project.  I found a scrap of Hobbs Tuscany silk batting which was just the right size.

The bottom edge was cut to the same shape as the rainbow.

A little red heart is stitched on where I envision Nova Scotia to be.

This bit of hope and encouragement is now hanging in our Family Room window.  It's raining today, but perhaps soon we will have a real rainbow.

If you would like to make your own, there is a link to Sheri's pattern here on the Aurifil post.  Thank you to Sheri and Aurifil for making this available.