Designing a Medallion Quilt

It has been a long while since I last made a medallion quilt.

I made  a Marcella Medallion by Alexia Abegg in 2014 for a fabulouc friend who turned 40. The quilt is being loved and used by my friend and family - including the dog!

When I finished the quilt I had plans to make another medallion quilt for another friend who also turned 40 in 2014. But I had run out of mojo and inspiration by then ,I couldn't find the right fabric and pattern. It felt like I was wading through design treacle!

Then I saw the Blueberry Fabric by Karen Lewis, and I was totally smitten!

I bought some grey Kona - Silver, Iron and Steel to be exact. I like the contrast in the brights of the pink/red and the grey. I then bought the plain Kona fabric to match the Blueberry Park and the Fog pattern from Blueberry Fabric. Now I have bundle of fabrics, both solid colour and patterned.

But what about a quilt design?

I wanted a central star again and I found the wonderful paper piece patterns by Wombat Quilts. If you have never visited Wombat Quilts you are in for a treat. Cath Hall as has gathered a fabulous collection of paper pieced patterns for anyone access. I love this one:

It is called Ellen's Snowball and there an instructions for 12" and 16" blocks. I have chosen the 16".

Next up was getting the quilt designed around the central block... for this the amazing app TouchDraw comes in very useful!

There is a mixture of simple sewing, paper piecing and some blocks I am still figuring out how to piece...

So the journey begins with a central star.... hopefully it will end with a finished quilt by October 2016 when my friend turns 42!

Blueberry Park Fabric

It has been a long time since I last bought quilting fabric.

My tiny sewing fund has been limited to materials for my City and Guilds.

That all changed when I found out the lovely Karen Lewis of Blueberrry Park had her first fabric line coming out. It started a bit of an obsessive searching to find the prints and the things that people have been sewing with it!

I have a few scrap pieces of Karen's screen printed fabric which I am treasuring until I have the perfect plan for them, so I knew I HAD to have the collection of fabric.... but how to afford it?

Having just a few fat quarters wasn't going to cut it, I NEED to have the whole collection...

That's when the amazing UK shop that is Simply Solids came to the rescue. They have a wonderful monthly Blueberry Park club. Seven fabrics from the collection each month, over ten months. So I can get the whole range and spread the payments - what's not to love?!?!?

This week the first bundle from Simply Solids arrived and I am in love! Seriously in love!

The first seven are from the selection above and they are gorgeous!

I have a plan for them already. I missed a very dear friends 40th birthday last year. I had planned to give her a quilt, but I just didn't manage it. I want to design and make a medallion quilt for her and these fabrics are just perfect. Maybe I didn't manage it last year because I knew Karen was going to bring me inspiration with her fabulous fabric line!