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!

Triumphant Triangles!

It has been an age since I last blogged - Scout Camp, end of term, weekend in London at the Fat Quarterly Retreat and 5 days camping with the boys!

Phew I have packed a lot into the last 2 weeks!

Do you remember the equilateral quilt in really bright colours?

Well, it has gone on it's 4 week trip around Europe with my best friends Helen and Tom.

I loved working on this quilt. The mix of colours and designs made me smile every time I got it out to work on!

I quilted straight lines around 1/4" from the seam - don't look too closely, the mismatched seams are really obvious!

I raided the last of my large yardage from Pink Castle Fabrics sale section for the backing, with some of the remnants from the front added. The binding was made up of left over fabrics sewn into a strip.

It has left today on a mammoth 2500 mile road trip. Hopefully it will be loved and used for lots of lovely picnics!

Quilt stats:

Size - 55" by 57"
Fabric - lots of brights
Wadding - 100% Cotton
Thread - 100% cotton Aurifil wt50 in White

A Riot of Triangles

I am in love with the colour of this quilt!

The triangles have been so much fun to make!

In the sunshine it looks like a wonderful fabric window panel! 

Makes me smile.....

Hoping my lovely friend Helen loves it too when she is travelling through Europe this summer!

Upcycling!

A couple of weeks ago I found a gorgeous duvet cover in a pile of bedding at a charity shop.

I do trawl through 'boutiques' looking for fabric, wool, clothes. In and around Tetbury there are a few great ones... a few years ago they had Jimmy Choo boots on sale for £350!

So this lovely sheet came home with me and had been cut into 2 halves.

One half is now backing the quilt made from my first pattern - it is currently with some lovely testers.

My plan is to finish the quilt and then photograph it for the front cover of the pattern.. a cunning plan I feel!

The sheet is so soft and it the perfect backing for this baby quilt!

The front looks pretty good too - I cut into the secret stash for this one. Can you tell which fabric range they come from?

Best crack on with the quilting!

Linking up with Let's Get Acquainted over at Charm About You.

Just can't stop...

You know that feeling when you are withing touching distance of the finishing line?

You can see the end, you can taste glory of finishing....

Last night was that kinda night!

My gorgeous quilt with the bright yellow backing was tantalisingly close to the finish line, just 5 more blocks to quilt..

I ended up sitting up until midnight machine quilting... Now midnight would be fine if it wasn't for the 5.30am wake up call I get every morning from my littlest monster..

Giving up at midnight seemed the best option when my bobbin thread ran out, so I dreamt quilts all night and got up at 6am to finish it off!

It's not perfect quilting, and it still needs binding - going to start that after a cuppa - but I am really pleased with how it turned out! It is the first time I have quilted an entire quilt with a walking foot.

Unfortunately there are some tucks in the top, but overall I am really pleased with the effect of the quilting. Plus it is a made by me, so it will never be perfect, which is the way it should be!