Marcelle Medallion Quilt

Three years in the making, my Marcelle Medallion quilt is finally finished. I'm a little embarrassed by how long this one took me to make, but it's a lot! All those pieces and borders! It was on my to-finish list for 2020, and it feels so good to have it done and be able to move on.

By Green Bee Patterns

In September 2017, two of my fellow Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild members and I drove to Nashville for the day to join the Nashville guild's workshop with artist and designer Alexia Marcelle Abegg. We focused on the foundation paper pieced center medallion during the workshop and came home inspired to keep going around and around with all the borders.

One thing I really liked about the pattern cover quilt is the radiating cornerstones in darker value fabrics, so I tried to replicate that with my choices. My fabric pull started with Elizabeth Hartman's collection Pond, and I added low-volume prints and a few prints and solids in similar colors to expand my options for all those borders.

(If I could change anything, it would be that center and definitely that reddish border.)

With each border, it was fun to play around with my fabric choices and color options, changing my plans a little as I went. Here's more of the process as it grew:

Rosy pink? Nope. Try something else.

When I got to this stage above, the pattern called for just one more solid border. But I considered adding another one or two pieced borders to make it larger, and I played around in my EQ8 design program to see what that might look like. For the record, I'm not great at EQ8 and this took SO MUCH TIME. But I was able to see a couple of my ideas (I'm terrible at envisioning how something might look) and then decide with confidence that I didn't like them! So I guess it was time well spent.

So I returned to the original pattern and added the last border, making it just a little wider.

For the backing, I decided to make it pieced and use as much of my remaining fabric as possible. Typically I hate how my pieced backs turn out - I see other people do them well, but I'm never happy with mine. They always look too messy. But for this one I tried to create a little order by using softer colors and arranging the larger pieces in columns with neutral dividers. It's still kind of crazy, but organized crazy (?). And it was economical, which is always satisfying because so much of quilting is kind of expensive.

For the quilting, I sent it to a longarmer, Sterling LaBosky (@sterlingquiltco on Instagram) in South Carolina. I scoured Pinterest and Instagram trying to find someone else's Marcelle Medallion with an allover quilting pattern that I liked. I saw one with this square maze design and crossed my fingers that it would look good on my quilt too. Guess what? It does. :)

For the binding, I kept it pretty neutral with a subtle low-volume print because there's so much happening in the medallion. The binding complements the last border, so they sort of blend out together. I'm really pleased with how this quilt turned out -- and the pure fact that I managed to finish it after 3 years! It's a nice accomplishment for 2020.

Round and Round Mini Quilt

Every time I make a mini quilt, I think, "I should really make more of these." They're a relatively fast and easy way to try a new pattern or technique and get a satisfying finish on the books. Or in the blog.

My quilting guild, the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild, organizes a brown bag holiday gift swap at the end of each year, coinciding with our December holiday party. Around October, participants bring a supply of fabric and a note about what they'd like to receive and we put them in unmarked brown paper bags. Anyone who brings a bag gets to take one home -- randomly -- and make a gift for that person using the fabric and information inside.

For the 2019 swap, I drew my mom's bag. Totally randomly. Didn't plan it at all. I had to laugh because it made the project more fun but also way more challenging because I couldn't discuss anything with her or else she'd know something was up. I didn't want to risk blowing the surprise, so I didn't bring up the challenge in the weeks between the bag swap and the final reveal, and anytime she mentioned it I tried to be brief and vague. I don't think she caught on.

My mom's brown bag contained cool-colored fat quarters and "surprise me!" instructions. So I thumbed through my books and patterns and Pinterest board looking for ideas for something she might like. I finally decided on a pattern I bought years ago, Round and Round by Thimble Blossoms -- I like the design and have always wanted to make it but just have never found the time. Even better is the fact that this pattern includes instructions for a mini quilt! Just one block - it was meant to be!

I added a couple of fabrics to my mom's selection, including a slightly heathery Cloud9 background neutral that I love. It came together really quickly, and I decided to make it more personal with some big stitch hand quilting. I chose perle cotton in multiple colors that coordinated with the quilt piecing and just ran some lines across it here and there, trying not to distract too much from the overall design.

Now it's hanging in my mom's house and I get to see it every time I stop by.

Jelly Rainbow Quilt

I don't think I'm the only quilter who would say that staying home more this year hasn't been an absolute hardship. More time for quilting? I'm in. One of my quarantine quilt finishes is this Jelly Rainbow Quilt featuring Amy Butler fabrics. The pattern is free from Ruby Star Society and Moda Fabrics, and back in April, Devon (@missmake on Instagram) started a quiltalong. I talked my mom into doing it with me, and I was able to use two mini jelly rolls that I'd gotten from a friend in my guild who was destashing.

I really enjoyed making this quilt -- it's extremely easy but doesn't look overly simplistic. And I was able to make it completely using fabric from my stash, which almost never happens. I pieced the backing with leftovers from fat quarters, a jelly roll and a yard of Amy Butler fabric that I found at Tuesday Morning a while ago. It's crazy, but I think it works. The binding was already made and leftover from another project. It was just a few inches short, so I had to add the little green bit to finish. Viva la quarantine!

I donated this quilt to my local chapter of Project Linus for a child in need. I'm putting the pattern back on my to-do list, maybe for 2021, and I'd like to cut my own jelly roll strips from stash. If you're looking for a quick, satisfying and not overly large quilt, this one is a winner.

Judy's Flower Quilt

It's hard to believe that I made this quilt in around 6 months start to finish, but when your client is an irresistibly cute 4-year-old, you work quickly. This twin-sized quilt with hexagon flowers was made for my niece Judy's bed. Her older sister has two of my bed-sized quilts, so it was beyond time for Judy to get hers too.

I consulted with my sister on the colors of the flowers, which loosely coordinate with curtains hanging in Judy's redecorated bedroom. We chose purple, pink, peach, aqua and dark teal, and each one got a yellow center to brighten things up a bit.

I pulled out my plastic hexagon templates and started making the flowers over the Christmas holiday. When Judy visited, I told her about the quilt that I was making for her bed, and she inspected my work. :)

In March, I finished making 49 flowers and started to machine appliqué each one to a 10.5" background block for an on-point layout. I chose a subtle print for the background -- flecks of color on white -- to make it more interesting and fun.

This was my design created (with a lot of frustration) in EQ8. I'm not great at using the software, but this gave me and my sister an idea of what the quilt would look like. I made a measuring error somewhere along the way, so the finished quilt doesn't have (didn't need) the borders shown here.

Here are the blocks as they went up on my design wall, for assembly into the quilt top. This isn't the first time my wall has been too small!

Finally I was able to assemble the top with setting and corner triangles. I got lucky with backing fabric at a local quilt show (held just before everything shut down due to COVID-19) and was able to get the yardage I needed at a great price because the vendor was liquidating their remaining stock right as the show ended. I had been looking for backing fabric online but wasn't finding anything that my sister and I could agree on, so my quilt show find was meant to be!

I can't manage basting and quilting a twin-size quilt on my own (and I didn't want to try!), so I sent this one off for longarm quilting by Sterling Quilt Co. in Myrtle Beach, SC. She's @sterlingquiltco on Instagram. My sister chose the design, and it turned out beautifully. Perfect for a little girl's bed.

Luckily, Sterling was able to get the quilt finished (along with another one I sent her - more on that soon) and returned to me in time to bind, label and wash it to give it to Judy in person on a family vacation. After years of making things for kids, I've learned to lower my expectations when it comes to their reactions -- they're never as excited to receive the thing as I am to give it to them. Except Judy! This girl delivered! She was so excited to get her own quilt, and her love of it made all the time and effort worthwhile. Look at that sweet face!

Quarter Log Cabin Block Tutorial

The block design I selected for the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild's next charity quilt is a quarter log cabin -- big and bold and easy to sew. I created the measurements in EQ8 but I'm still kind of new to the software and figuring things out, so the block comes out at around 13" unfinished instead of the 12.5" I was going for. But that's okay! When a lot of people sew the same block, size variations are inevitable, so we'll trim them all to size when it comes time to sew them into a top.

Our color palette is based on this fabric chosen as the backing:

To simplify, that's solid fabrics only in white, gray, aqua, peach and red.
To avoid striped blocks, we're looking for at least 3 colors per block.

Here's the diagram and cutting information (based on five colors but easily adapted to just three or four):

Quarter Log Cabin Block

Approx. 13” unfinished - DO NOT TRIM

Color palette: White, Gray, Aqua, Peach, Red

Use 3-5 colors

PIECE	COLOR	DIMENSIONS
A	One	3 x 13
B	One	3 x 10.5
B	Two	3 x 10.5
C	Two	3 x 8
C	Three	3 x 8
D	Three	3 x 5.5
D	Four	3 x 5.5
E	Four	3 x 3
E	Five	3 x 3

When cutting, I found it easiest to start with the smallest pieces, E, and work my way up, and I oriented the block like the diagram above to make sure I cut all the right colors for the right spots.

Assembly is simple. Start with the small E squares, and build the block one strip at a time. Press seams open as you go.

These blocks are so fast to make that I ended up with four of them. They offer a few different layout options that are fun to play with, too. I look forward to seeing all the blocks from guild members and how they all come together.