My friend, James, commissioned a quilt similar to “The First 60 Blocks,” shown on the cover of my book “All Roads Lead Somewhere: activity pages, appliqué templates, and coloring book.”

It helps to have a selection of different fabrics. None of the appliqués used are more than 2-1/2 inches wide, so I ordered three different jellyrolls of fabric strips, then separated and sorted the fabrics by color. I figured it would give me enough fabric for the quilt top:

I made “Trois Cartouches” to experiment with color progressions and knot borders:

I made “James’ Quilt”:

I wanted to use the blue-green fabric against the other colors of the rainbow, so I made “Aquarium” to accompany my aquarium. There are two sets of paths set at right angles: one set in color; one set in blue-green. I chose a similar blue-green for the background, so the blue-green paths disappear and give the impression that the colored paths are weaving in and out of the background itself. I echo-quilted along each path, which adds to the “ripple” effect.

I rotated the blocks 45 degrees to give the knot a Celtic look:

I made a larger rainbow knot with the blocks on-point. The color transitions seem smoother this way.

I was clearing off my worktable when I came across another jellyroll of black fabric strips. I started “Snow Day in April” one day it snowed last week.

I haven’t run out of fabric strips. I’ve run out of walls to hang the quilts.