I got this quilt finished last Saturday but haven't had a moment spare to put together this post since.
At the end of September I went on a quilting retreat and the project was a Medallion quilt. I'd never made a Medallion quilt before and I have to admit that it hadn't ever really been on my radar as a "must try". I am now a convert. Except for the long seams which I hate sewing, I really enjoyed piecing this quilt top.
The central star is templates (which I suffered well). The first pieced border is flying geese and I learnt a fantastic new technique for making four at once - unfortunately baby brain means I have entirely forgotten it.
The next border is square in a square. Had I been doing this at home I would definitely have foundation pieced these blocks, as they were not as precise as I would have liked. And the final border was templates again. There were a few issues with this border, but with a couple of tweaks I had a finished quilt top.
Michael and I basted the quilt. I love my husband, but basting is not his thing. To call it a disaster would be unfair....but it was quite a disaster.
Quilting this top was a struggle. Having never done a Medallion Quilt before I was a bit stumped. The only thing I knew was that I didn't want an all over free motion stipple.I started by echoing the red plain borders with straight line quilting - 1/4" inside of each seam line all the way round in dark red thread. I then changed my thread colour to blue and echoed the seam lines in the square in the square border creating a zig zag line.
I knew from the start that I wanted to do some hand quilting. I used Fica perle thread in dark red for the centre of the quilt and in light blue for all of the corner stones and the central squares in the flying geese border. I chose a straight forward motif that was quite easy to mark on the quilt with a hera marker. All of the marking was free hand, which is why not all are identical. I took the quilt on holiday to the Lakes and while we sat in the flat avoiding rain I steadily quilted each of the motifs. It was exactly the relaxation I needed. By the time we went home I had quilted all of the motifs except the outer four, as I didn't want to lose the quilting with binding.
When we got home I added some more machine quilting to the final border, again using matching thread and echoing seam lines. Despite a week of not feeling well, I managed to get the quilt bound, and with just hours to spare before leaving to visit my parents I hand quilted the final motifs.
The quilt was made for my Godmother, Aunty Chris. She is one of the most special people in my life and is leaving me under a lot of pressure now I need to think about a Godmother for my own daughter. Last Saturday morning I very quickly embroidered a small label, attached it to the quilt then went to see Aunty Chris. She was so pleased with it and it was absolutely lovely to see her.
Quilt Stats:
Finished size 73"x73"
Pattern: Medallion Quilt from the book Shopping Days from Six Penny Memories
Fabrics: a total mix of fabrics my Godmother picked herself, plus a few additions including some Robert Kaufmann solids, some blue hearts from Benartex, Primitive Muslin from Moda and a cream from Red Rooster. The backing was an extra wide from Moda.
Quilting: a mixture of straight line quilting and hand quilting using Coats, Aurifil and Fica Perle.
Time taken: 1 month.
This is another finish from my Q4 Finish Along list!
At the end of September I went on a quilting retreat and the project was a Medallion quilt. I'd never made a Medallion quilt before and I have to admit that it hadn't ever really been on my radar as a "must try". I am now a convert. Except for the long seams which I hate sewing, I really enjoyed piecing this quilt top.
The central star is templates (which I suffered well). The first pieced border is flying geese and I learnt a fantastic new technique for making four at once - unfortunately baby brain means I have entirely forgotten it.
The next border is square in a square. Had I been doing this at home I would definitely have foundation pieced these blocks, as they were not as precise as I would have liked. And the final border was templates again. There were a few issues with this border, but with a couple of tweaks I had a finished quilt top.
Michael and I basted the quilt. I love my husband, but basting is not his thing. To call it a disaster would be unfair....but it was quite a disaster.
Quilting this top was a struggle. Having never done a Medallion Quilt before I was a bit stumped. The only thing I knew was that I didn't want an all over free motion stipple.I started by echoing the red plain borders with straight line quilting - 1/4" inside of each seam line all the way round in dark red thread. I then changed my thread colour to blue and echoed the seam lines in the square in the square border creating a zig zag line.
I knew from the start that I wanted to do some hand quilting. I used Fica perle thread in dark red for the centre of the quilt and in light blue for all of the corner stones and the central squares in the flying geese border. I chose a straight forward motif that was quite easy to mark on the quilt with a hera marker. All of the marking was free hand, which is why not all are identical. I took the quilt on holiday to the Lakes and while we sat in the flat avoiding rain I steadily quilted each of the motifs. It was exactly the relaxation I needed. By the time we went home I had quilted all of the motifs except the outer four, as I didn't want to lose the quilting with binding.
When we got home I added some more machine quilting to the final border, again using matching thread and echoing seam lines. Despite a week of not feeling well, I managed to get the quilt bound, and with just hours to spare before leaving to visit my parents I hand quilted the final motifs.
The quilt was made for my Godmother, Aunty Chris. She is one of the most special people in my life and is leaving me under a lot of pressure now I need to think about a Godmother for my own daughter. Last Saturday morning I very quickly embroidered a small label, attached it to the quilt then went to see Aunty Chris. She was so pleased with it and it was absolutely lovely to see her.
Quilt Stats:
Finished size 73"x73"
Pattern: Medallion Quilt from the book Shopping Days from Six Penny Memories
Fabrics: a total mix of fabrics my Godmother picked herself, plus a few additions including some Robert Kaufmann solids, some blue hearts from Benartex, Primitive Muslin from Moda and a cream from Red Rooster. The backing was an extra wide from Moda.
Quilting: a mixture of straight line quilting and hand quilting using Coats, Aurifil and Fica Perle.
Time taken: 1 month.
This is another finish from my Q4 Finish Along list!
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