Happy Monday – This morning when I walked it was 71 with 99% humidity – about 10 the cool front arrived and it is now 63 with 56% humidity. I should have waited to walk! LOL! I would love to see our weather settle into 30’s at night and 60’s during the day, but concerned that this winter will be called “the seesaw or up and down” winter. Not my favorite.
New Project: Last December Kay England started a program called Medallion Mastery. I signed up for the project, but was unable to start a quilt with the group. I kept the project on the top of the stack of “want to do” because I love Medallion quilts and have always wanted to design my own. Kaye is an absolute hoot to watch and listen to she has been around a long time in the quilting world. So, last week was the week for me to start on a Medallion quilt. I watched and listened to her video’s and rejoined her Facebook group. There are some beautiful Medallion quilts that were done last year. The cost of the program was $30.00 and well worth it. I also subscribed to YouTube videos in order to download all of her the sessions .
This is my journey in attempting to start from scratch and design a Medallion quilt. I started looking for fabric (not in a store but in my stash) that I would use and found my Terracina fabric sitting in a drawer that I had purchased a couple years ago. When I purchased it (probably on sale) I purchased 4 fat quarter bundles, 2 Layer Cakes (never buy them), and 2 Jelly Rolls (never buy them either). One thing that I did not realize that each fat quarter bundle had a Panel included! Talk about an over kill on this purchase!
I started out with the Panel, added a 1/2″ batik blue border, and a 2 3/4″ gold screen print border. I knew that the center was off an inch, but was hoping to find a way to get it squared.
Then, hoping that it would work out, I tried some HSTs for the next border.
Then I tried different color HSTs. That did not work out either – remember I was off an inch between the length and width.
Next step – back to the drawing board (Note, I never draw a picture of where I am going in the quilting process my drawing pad and pencil are in my head) as I knew I had to deal with how to get this thing squared. I also got Clay involved in the problem as I figured 2 heads would be better than one since mine had air in it for a couple of days this week (oops ate some gluten)!
The way I resolved the issue was to take off 1/2′ blue border, trim the top and bottom gold border by 1/2″ and I then had a square Center working great! I added a 2 1/2″ strip from the Jelly Roll fabric. This time the quilt told me I was on the right track.
As of Sunday, this is where I am now. All squared, with only 2 borders and ready to go for the 3rd border, which is going to be a surprise to me also!
I spent the entire week working on this project. Once I figured out how to take care of the squaring problem, things fell in place! I am happy with the outcome so far!
Rockport Texas: When we were in Rockport I visited Sew By The Bay quilt store. Darleen was so much fun to visit with. The day before we left I went back and came home with some goodies (like I really needed any fabric).
When I first walked into the store, I saw a quilt hanging on the wall that I was intrigued with. This designer produces post card size patterns for $2.99 and the patterns are quick and easy to make. The one that was on the wall was made with some fabrics that I would have never selected but Darleen told me how she achieved the look of the quilt and I was hooked!
I purchased the top piece from an online store after I returned home because Darleen was out of the color, but the next two were purchased at Darleen’s store. I enjoy helping out our Brick and Mortar stores whenever I visit one. The two bubble print fabrics are gradated fabrics. The way the pattern is made you would never know that the quilt was made from the bubble/wild fabrics. The blue batik was the fabric that first caught my eye. I wanted to use it in another project for 2022.
Oh My Stars: Rockport is in our future plans again – this time for a longer stay and we are prepared to have a closer look at things. Clay purchased some Astronomy Binoculars so we can enjoy looking at Stars, Planets, and the Moon from our balcony. Of course this will mostly include watching the Shrimp boats coming and going out to the Aransas Bay for the catch of the day.
We have been watching Centennial a 1979 mini-series made for television. It was quite interesting but I am glad that one is over with. Makes me yearn for the past times in our lives where things were more simple.
For an update on my hand stitching projects check out my HQAL post if you have not read it yet. I have a ‘beautiful’ EKG (words straight from the Doctor’s mouth) with no issues, just some idiot giving me Fentanyl during the RF treatment and then a Large Dose of Anxiety. Easy to cure – fire the Doctor and get rid of stress, of which I have!
Have a great week and enjoy life and stitching. We have a new year coming to your town soon along with Santa Clause in just 19 days!
Hugs, Nanette
Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party To-Do-Tuesdays;PHD in 2021;
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 