Tag Archives: prismatic medallion

Life, Quilting

Voting Open for Bloggers Quilt Festival

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The Bloggers Quilt Festival is underway over at Amy’s Creative Side, and now is when you (and I!) get to browse the wonderful entries and vote for our top three favorites in each category. I love seeing familiar quilts from some of my favorite blogging friends, but also like to discover new quilters whose quilts inspire me. It’s a quilt show that you can enjoy at your leisure, all from the comfort of your own home (you can browse and vote in your jammies–I won’t tell anyone!)

As I shared in my previous Bloggers Quilt Festival post, this is the first year I’ve entered a quilt. My Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion quilt is in the ROYGBIV category!

Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion ROYGBIV mini quiltIf you love this cheerful mini as much as I do, I invite you to visit the ROYGBIV category and vote! To vote for your favorites, simply click the heart in the top-right corner of the photo. Here are links to all of the categories, as well as the prizes offered by the generous sponsors.

Please consider voting for my Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion quilt as one of your top three favorites in the ROYGBIV category.

Enjoy browsing all of these wonderful quilts. I know I have been having a tough time choosing only three top favorites! The good news is, I *think* you can vote every day, so I’ve been visiting daily to give a variety of my favorite quilts some voting love. Voting is open until May 29th.

 

Quilting

Bloggers Quilt Festival – Spring 2015 {ROYGBIV Entry}

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Twice a year, Amy from Amy’s Creative Side hosts a Bloggers Quilt Festival, an online quilt show where peers vote for their favorite quilt in each category. It should come as no surprise that I am entering a quilt into the ROYGBIV category, given my penchant for rainbows. As my first-ever entry into the Bloggers Quilt Festival, I’m entering my Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion mini quilt. Yes, this quilt will soon be mailed off to my swap partner, but that’s one of the huge benefits of this Quilt Festival–you don’t need the quilt in hand to enter!

Without further ado, I give you Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion:

alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quilt finish

I finished binding this quilt earlier this week. It’s created with primarily Alison Glass fabrics, most of which come from her newest 2015 Sun Prints Mercury and Grove. The pattern is the Prismatic Medallion pattern offered for free on the Robert Kaufman website.

alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quilt finishAlison’s Sun Prints offer such a gorgeously saturated and bright color palette, perfect for ROYGBIV quilting creations. I decided to quilt this mini in coordinating Aurifil thread, both 40 and 50wts, depending on what weight I had in my stash. I used a fun prismatic quilting pattern, which really brings out the angularity of the design.

alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quillting detail
Quilting detail
alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quilt finish
Nice crisp corners!

alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quilt finish

The quilt is bound in Yarn Dyed Essex linen blend in Charcoal by Robert Kaufman. Here are the final quilt stats:

Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion Mini Quilt

Completed May 2015
Pattern: Prismatic Medallions by Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Size: 23″ x 20″
Fabric: Assorted fabric from Alison Glass’s 2015 Sun Prints, Mercury and Grove (Andover Fabrics), with other Alison Glass fabrics: Feathers in Dahlia and Black, Bike Path, Handcrafted, and some others, including but not limited to Carolyn Friedlander Architextures Crosshatch in Tangerine, Cotton + Steel basics in yellow, magenta, and green, and some Timeless Treasures Sketch.
Binding is Yarn Dyed Essex Linen blend in Charcoal (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).
Quilting: Prismatic straight line quilting with my walking foot
Thread: Aurifil 50wt 2600 – Dove for piecing
Assorted color coordinating Aurifil for quilting:

  • 40 wt 2230 Medium Peony
  • 50wt 1154 Dusty Orange
  • 40wt 1135 Pale Yellow
  • 50wt 2886 Light Avocado
  • 40wt 1114 Grass Green
  • 50wt 2810 Turquoise
  • 50wt 1125 Medium Teal
  • 40wt 2730 Delft Blue
  • 40wt 2520 Violet
  • 40wt 1100 Red Plum
  • 50wt 1246 Grey
  • 50wt 2021 Natural White

Related blog posts: Embrace the Rainbow, Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion Flimsy Finish, The Big Push

Life, Quilting

The Big Push

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As much of the quilting world prepares for Quilt Market, urgently pushing to complete those finishing touches on booths, accessories, new bags, business cards, etc., I share that energy as I try to get a few last projects from my work in progress pile into the “finished” pile. My deadline is not the impending Market, however. I am entering the final week(s) before having a baby. Amazingly, I’m feeling pretty hopeful that I will be able to complete the quilting projects that need to be finished before baby arrives (let’s not even talk about the projects around the house, though–priorities, right?), and I’m trying hard not to take on more projects in the meantime.

finishing touches quiltingTwo of the big quilting projects are no strangers to you loyal readers, so prepare yourselves for yet another look at the Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog baby quilt I’m working on for my sister-in-law, and the Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion mini quilt I’m finishing up for my partner in the Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap on Instagram.

alison glass prismatic medallion quilt binding

Thankfully, I’m on the final binding phase for the Prismatic Medallion mini quilt. I’m binding it with my new favorite: Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Linen blend in Charcoal, with coordinating 50wt Aurifil 1246 – Grey. I used straight-grain binding and next time will use bias binding, since I’m finding that the backs of the corners are a bit off kilter. Since the front corners line up perfectly and look nice and crisp, I’m not worrying about it, but I’m still searching for that secret tip to making perfect corners on the front and back when binding a hexagon. I’m in the process of setting up a skype date with Carla from Granny Maud’s Girl way over in Perth, Australia, since she says she knows the secret to binding hexagons–how awesome is this technological world and the quilting community within it!?

alison glass prismatic medallion quilt bindingI’m hoping to have a mini finish to share soon!

hazel hedgehog quilting plan with aurifilI also need to finish quilting Hazel. I ordered the coordinating Aurifil from Hawthorne Threads, and now that it’s here, that can go back into my project circulation. I’m planning to do simple outline echo quilting on Hazel’s face and body with Aurifil 2423 – Baby Pink, since it is just a *little* bit pinker than her face and will add the texture without detracting from her features. The lighter pink color will be a fun addition to her bright pink legs and body. I ordered 40wt this time, since I love the added thickness that helps the quilting pop.

hazel hedgehog quilting plan with aurifil

I’ve decided to try my very first matchstick quilting in the heart, since it’s a small enough space I don’t think it will be too crazy to complete before baby. Plus, I am going to try to quilt the baby’s name–Reagan–into the heart via negative space. For this, I’m going to use Freezer Paper for the very first time! I bought a big roll over a year ago when my late quilting Grammy said that it was an absolute must for paper piecing. I’ve never used it for paper piecing since I strongly prefer the foundation paper method, but I’m hoping to cut out freezer paper letters spelling Reagan, iron them onto the heart, and then matchstick quilt within the heart, but NOT on the letters. Is that as clear as mud? I promise I’ll take photos of the process, and fingers crossed that it works the way I envision!

variegated aurifil thread

I ordered my very first spool of variegated thread for the heart matchstick quilting, and I think the color is perfect–it’s Bubblegum variegated 3660! I ordered 50wt this time and very well might keep my panacea Dove thread color in the bobbin since with matchstick quilting, I’m afraid of running out of thread before I’m finished.

I also have another project, a pattern I’m developing, which I’m trying to finish before baby comes. For now, I can’t show you much, and the progress is not nearly as close to complete as these first two projects. Getting Hazel and the Prismatic Medallion into the finished pile will certainly help me focus on the new pattern, though, so little steps it is!

Finally, I thought I’d share my last and greatest work in progress, heading to the “finished” pile at an unknown impending date.

baby work in progress 39 weeksHere I am between 38 and 39 weeks pregnant with my third baby, a boy. He’s still in progress, but should be joining us on the outside world (aka finished cooking) in the coming weeks. Makers gotta make!

I’m linking up with Freshly Pieced’s Work in Progress Wednesday, and Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, since I added some more Aurifil thread to my stash to finish these projects.

Quilting

Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion Flimsy Finish

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Choosing fabrics for the Prismatic Medallion mini quilt pattern has been hands down the most difficult part of the entire process. As you read in my last progress post for this project, I have been humming and hawing over fabric choice and placement for the last few sections of the quilt for about a month. Finally, this past week, I bit the bullet, made the decision, and finished sewing together the quilt top. Verdict: I LOVE it!

prismatic medallion flimsy finish and matching aurifil threadI realized that I didn’t take a single photo of the flimsy without the matching Aurifil thread on top, so I apologize! Then again, I don’t really apologize, since how gorgeous is that thread circle paired with the quilt top!?

Ultimately, I opted to add some Carolyn Friedlander Architextures Crosshatch in Tangerine to balance out the yellow-orange section, and swapped out some of the more saturated magenta/red Alison Glass Sun Prints for her Feathers in Dahlia, and added in a pinky-orange Sketch section to finalize the magenta-red section. I’m really happy with the outcome.

While photographing this mini, I realized that when viewed from different perspectives, the entire look of the quilt changes. Here is the exact same photo from above, just taken upside-down (or right-side-up?):

prismatic medallion flimsy finish and matching aurifil threadHere they are side by side, with a wide white border so that you can view each individually.

AG Prismatic Medallion compare

Is it just me, or do they look completely different depending on what side you call the top? For this reason, I think I will hold off on attaching a hanging sleeve to this mini before mailing it off to my Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap partner. That way, while it means they will need to handle hanging “hardware”, they can decide what aesthetic view they prefer.

AG Prismatic Medallion compare

AG Prismatic Medallion compare
Aurifil fairy circle

As you can see, I had a lot of fun going through my Aurifil thread stash to find matching thread. My penchant for rainbows paid off, since I had an exact match for most of the colors, and a reasonable match for the remaining one or two.

I decided on a prismatic-style quilting pattern, in lieu of the basic “echo quilting the seams” and I’m silly excited about it. I actually finished quilting this yesterday (shhh don’t tell), but haven’t buried any of the threads or tackled binding yet. The full finish will have to wait, but I’m getting close!

It feels good to have finally made the fabric choice decision and have this mini quilt on the fast track to “finished”. I’m also doubly excited now that I have enough fabric half-rectangle-triangles to make a duplicate of this mini. That’s a definite plus to the Prismatic Medallion pattern–two quilts with one cutting bout!

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and TGIFF.

 

 

Design, Patterns, Quilting

Embrace the Rainbow

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Rainbows make me happy. As early as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed arranging things in rainbow order. In high school and college, I would always eat M&Ms in rainbow order. No exceptions. As a mom, putting colored pencils or crayons away in rainbow order fills me with a weird feeling of bliss. It’s no surprise, then, that rainbow order finds itself into so many of my quilts. For a while, I thought I would “grow out of” my penchant for rainbows. For some reason, in my mind, rainbow order isn’t as mature as, say… marsala, or gold. Then I had a little blog comment conversation via email with Jenn from A Quarter Inch from the Edge, where she pointed out, “Why does one need to get over a penchant for rainbows? We see them so rarely in real life… we’ve got to make a few of our own!” True that! And so, I have embraced my love of rainbows and I’m letting it shine! Here are two of my current works in progress as proof.

Twirling Star by Leanne at Devoted Quilter pattern testingI’m testing a pattern called Twirling Star by Leanne at Devoted Quilter. It has been fun getting feedback on Instagram about fabric choices along the way. I opted for an entirely low volume background, just switching up the background fabric for the outer pinwheels to help the center star stand out a bit more. Opinions were pretty evenly split between using this Botanics Foliage in Charcoal fabric versus using Ledger from Carolyn Friedlander’s Architextures line. As much as I LOVE Ledger (can you tell I love pretty much all things Carolyn Friedlander?), I was toying with the idea of spinning the outer rainbow pinwheels, but wanted the flexibility to make the decision after seeing the blocks. With Ledger, the directionality issue would have required that I make the decision before assembling the blocks. Foliage, it was!

twirling star rainbow pattern testing for leanne at devoted quilterNow I just need to sew these blocks together and add the borders and this mini quilt top will be finished!

prismatic medallion rainbow alison glass versionNext up is my progress on the Prismatic Medallion mini quilt I’m making for my partner in the Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap. I definitely attribute my recent burst of rainbow to my purchase of the newest Alison Glass Sunprints. How could you resist making EVERYTHING with these fabulously bright and saturated fabrics!?

I’ve finally received all of the supplemental fabrics needed to fill out the black and white section, and all of the pieces are cut. Only the green and blue/turquoise triangles are sewn together so far. I’m really happy with the black and white triangle, and have come to accept the blue/purple triangle. I’m still debating the yellow/orange and the red/orange/magenta sections.

prismatic medallion alison glass version
Alison Glass handcrafted added in. I think it’s too brown for this palette.

In the yellow/orange triangle (beneath the black and white one), I originally bought a fabric from Alison Glass’ s Handcrafted line to vary the colors a bit. Now I’m thinking it may be too brown for this palette. I’m leaning toward the brighter Cotton & Steel basics yellow instead.

prismatic medallion alison glass version
Magenta-purple spread out a bit in the bottom triangle.

In the red/orange/magenta triangle (bottom center), I’m thinking I will spread out the purply magenta triangles a bit more. I’m thinking this bottom layout will be the final layout, with the C&S yellow and the spread out magenta. I need to decide soon and get this sewn together! What would you do?

embrace the rainbow

I’m linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday.

 

 

Hand Stitching, Life

Balance

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The internet has been down for most of the week here at home, which translates to radio silence on this here blog. My goal for the year was “Balance”, after all, so maybe it was decided that I needed to take a blogging break. Either way, here’s a little peek at what I’ve been doing during the silence.

visible mending

I mended my first pair of jeans. Yes, I know, it’s a little embarrassing that as an almost-34 year old, I have yet to mend clothes. I did try mending a hole in a pair of jeans a couple years back, but it was such an epic fail I can hardly count it. This time I used a patch cut from another pair of old holey jeans, zig zag stitched the edges to prevent fraying, and hand stitched it on with Aurifil floss. Many thanks to Dorie (@tumblingblocks on IG) for the inspiration and tips! The floss was gorgeous to work with, but I was later informed (thanks for the heads up, Sam!) that embroidery floss won’t be strong enough to hold up well as a jeans knee patch. I plan to supplement the stitching with a rainbow of perle cotton and hope for the best. At least it looks awesome, and these favorite post-partum maternity-esque jeans are ready to wear post-baby. It is so peaceful to sit and stitch while sitting next to my kiddos watching a movie. Balance, right?

skinny fabric scraps for the birds

I put my skinny strip scraps outside for the birds. I’ve never tried this before, but have seen that others save their fabric shavings to put out during nest-building season. I’ve been saving my skinnies all winter so I’m really hopeful that we see some colorful, soft nests around the yard this year!

alison glass prismatic medallion mini quilt progress

I’ve been working on my Prismatic Medallion mini quilt for my Alison Glass Mini Quilt swap partner. I’m still waiting on a few fabrics, but I’m loving the progress so far!

bean sprout foundation paper piecing pattern

I made a bit of progress on my newest foundation paper piecing pattern, Bean Sprout. Can you tell my mind is on spring?

planting seeds

We finally planted seeds. Today, April 3rd, we FINALLY got seeds into planters. It’s far too cold to plant seeds in the ground still, especially since there are still multiple feet of snow on top, but starting seeds inside is one of my favorite parts about spring. It felt so good to get dirt under my fingernails! Last year, we planted seeds in late February, so waiting until April is crazytown. This winter was just so brutal it felt wrong to plant seeds when the temperatures were in the teens and the snow just kept coming. I’m hoping the seeds still get a good enough head start to flourish once the garden is ready for them.

Back outside I go to enjoy this glorious day with my kids. The weekend forecast is for more snow (it darn well better not stick!), but I know that spring is near. Hope, balance, love. That’s what life is about!

Quilting

Alison Glass Mini Quilt Planning

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Shortly after finishing the Schnitzel and Boo Mini quilt swap, a flood of other tempting swaps were announced on Instagram. Showing an unprecedented amount of willpower, I only signed up for one: an Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap. I love the bright saturated colors in Alison’s fabrics, and am really excited about this mini. I’ve decided to make the Prismatic Medallions quilt, designed by Susan Kephart for Robert Kaufman.

Prismatic Medallion image from Robert Kaufman.
Prismatic Medallion image from Robert Kaufman.

The sample quilt is made with solids, but I think that Alison Glass‘s fabric lines will work wonderfully, too. Check out this gorgeous rainbow!

alison glass rainbow fabric

This pull is almost entirely comprised of Alison’s newest Sun Prints, both Grove and Mercury, plus some Bike Path from her older Sun Prints, with some Cotton & Steel basics and Sketch prints thrown in. I have a few little holes to fill, and am aiming to visit my local quilt shop Fiddlehead Artisan Supply sometime this week to remedy that so that I can get started piecing the top.

alison glass rainbow fabric

alison glass gorgeous green fabric

Prismatic Medallions is a free pattern (score!) and the cutting directions result in enough triangles to make two quilts (double score!). I guess I’ll just have to make a version for myself, too. Shucks.

I’m linking up with Freshly Pieced’s Work in Progress Wednesday.