Medallion Quilt

I have thouroughly enjoyed my time as an Island Batik Ambassador this year. The monthly challenges have been good for me in “expanding my borders” and getting to know other quilters and designers has been inspiring. The fabric from Island Batik, needles from Schmetz, dies and cutters from AccuQuilt, thread from Aurifil, batting from Hobbs and rulers from Studio 180 Design … dreams really do come true!

We Island Batik Ambassadors are wrapping up the year with a Medallion Quilt. A Medallion Quilt starts with a center block and has multiple borders going around that center block.

I have been sharing my fellow Ambassador’s quilts and they have been stunning! For my quilt, I chose the fabric, “Just my Type”, designed by Tammy Silvers. Living in Florida, I love its beachy colors. I was given a jellyroll of the Just My Type fabric with Blueberry and Parchment Basics for compliments. This fabric line should be arriving at your local quilt shops now.

For my center block, I used a block from Studio 180 Design’s Blockbuster series, Poinsettia, Block #29. It comes from a collection of free monthly downloads, available on their website, of blocks designed with their tools.

Poinsettia is made with the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool. At one end of the tool, there are lines that guide you to fussy cut the diamond shapes. I used that end of the tool on two of my 2 1/2″ strips that I had sewn together. There are so many things that can be done with the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star tool; it is one of my favorite go to tools for stars. The tool not only makes ten sizes of the star, but there are many different techniques that are available by Technique Sheets or patterns using this tool.

The block also had four Split Rects units which I made with that Studio 180 tool. Since I needed fabric larger than my 2 1/2″ strip, I used the Basic fabrics that complimented the Just My Type fabric line.

For my first round, I made a checker board pattern and squared up each Four Patch with Studio 180 Design’s Four Patch Square Up tool.

I love all the typewriter letters in Tammy’s design: so whimsical besides the colors being fabulous.

For my next round, I made Flying Geese with Studio 180″s Wing Clipper tool. I could use my strips for the smaller blocks or wings, but I needed to use the basic fabric for the larger square.

I surrounded the Flying Geese with Square Squared blocks. The Corner Blocks were easy to design with the Studio 180 Corner Pop tool. The only math needed is to know what finished size you want to cut off: the ruler does the rest. I love the no math for me approach.

The last round was a return to the Split Rects unit, but made small enough to use the 2 1/2″ strips. My quilt finished at 37″ square.

I wanted to use as many of the fabrics as I could. I know I already said this, but I love the colors of the Just My Type fabric line, and the Blueberry and Parchment Basic fabrics just really make them pop.

I used Schmetz #80 Univeral needles for piecing with Aurifil #50 wt. thread. To quilt, I used 50 wt. Aurifil thread # 2740, 2110, 2785. 5005, and 1231. I used Hobbs Cotton Batting as my first layer of batting and also added wool batting on top to help show the quilting, since this will be a wall hanging.

I hope you enjoyed the sharing of my project this month and will take the time to look at other projects on my blog. Also, be sure to take a look at the other Island Batik Ambassador’s Medallion Quilts. They are fabulous!

Island Batik Ambassadors

Carolina Asmussen ~ Carolina Asmussen

Megan Best ~ Best Quilter

Pamela Boatright ~ Pamela Quilts

Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter

Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts 

Joanne Hart ~ Unicorn Harts

Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts

Carla Henton ~ Create in the Sticks

Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs

Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood

Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese

Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights

Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke

Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack’s Blog 

Kathleen McCormick ~ Kathleen McMusing

Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs 

Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads

Sharon Riley ~ Sew Riley Designs

Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde

Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail 

Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter

Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations

Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts

Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts

Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting 

Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore