December Challenge - Medallion Quilt

December Medallion Quilt

Sedona Sunrise by Connie Kauffman

It's hard to believe it is December already!  This is the last challenge of the year for the 2020 Island Batik Ambassadors.  This month the challenge was to make a Medallion Quilt.

I don't think I've ever set out to make a Medallion quilt.  Looking at a lot of different quilts I got many ideas for blocks and borders.  

I decided to use the 2 1/2" strip pack of Floralicious Island Batik designed by Kathy Engle for this project. These fabrics are in the shops now. I just LOVE this collection.  You can see how beautifully they are displayed in the package.  Have you ever gotten a package like this and not wanted to open it up for fear you'd lose the arrangement of the colors?  I wanted to keep the colors in this arrangement, so I just took out the strips on one side of the package to use to begin with.  (You can also just take a photo of the package for future reference!)  I have to say the 2 1/2" strip packages are my favorite precut.

Because I wanted to use the 2 1/2" strips- this limited the size of the blocks I could use in the quilt.  I don't mind smaller blocks, but I did have to think about the size of each one.  I decided on 4 different borders with  4 small unpieced borders.

I also received two other fabrics to go with this collection - a light blue and a dark blue.  This was great as they could be used where I needed more than just the precut strip.  They also helped to tie all the colors together.

I picked the flying geese in the outside border especially to showcase the colors in the arrangement that was in the package.  I did have to leave out a couple colors due to how many flying geese I needed.  Because I wanted to use these- I actually did the outside border first!  Not always advisable, but by making them with paper piecing, I knew the measurements would turn out correctly.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the quilt in progress - sometimes I get to involved and just forget to take photos!

I used a beautiful selection of Aurifil thread that matched the fabric colors perfectly.  Isn't this just eye candy!

Hobbs Cotton Batting and Schmetz Chrome Microtex needles were also used to complete the project.

It has been a very interesting and challenging year this year as an Island Batik Ambassador.  I've loved the challenges and working with all the creative Ambassadors and sponsors in the program.  Thanks to Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil Threads and Schmetz Needles for suppling the materials for this project thru the Island Batik Ambassador Program.

The sponsors this year along with Island Batik Fabrics were:

* The winner from the Inspired By Nature Blog Hop drawing on my blog was Diantha.  The fabrics are on the way to her- congratulations!