Circa 2016 Medallion Quilt

I finished my Circa 2016 Medallion Quilt!

The centre section was the Temecula Quilt Company's quilt-along-quilt for last year.

I added more borders to make is a bed sized quilt. It is 84"x95" (it's on a double bed).

This is quilted on my domestic sewing machine - I used a walking foot to stitch in the ditch around all the borders, and a spring action free motion foot for the rest of the quilting. I used Hobbs Tuscany Wool batting. The quilting was done with Aurifil 50wt thread, and Bottom Line 60wt thread.

It's probably just me but I always wondered how medallion quilts were made - how did quilter get the pieced borders to be the right size? Now I know all about 'Filler Borders', that is the secret to making a medallion quilt - plain fabric fills the space between the different sized pieced borders (a couple of mine are the same background fabric, and a few are a contrasting fabric). There is a bit of simple math involved in calculating the size of the filler borders.

Because the quilt is a rectangle the side filler borders are not the same size as the top/bottom filler borders.

When I was deciding on what borders to add to the quilt I chose to repeat some of the designs from the original centre section -

The Court House Steps blocks are laid out similar to the centre Hour Glass blocks-

The Sawtooth blocks are a repeat of one the centre blocks-

I had always wanted to make a Medallion Quilt, and I learned a lot with this quilt. It was a fun challenge!

I had a few more knitting finishes this week -

A hat and cowl made with yarn from Tanis Fibre Arts. The hat is a free Ravelry Pattern - Lake Reed, and the cowl was made using a cable chart from a Japanese knitting book my son brought me back from Japan.

This year my Mother and I decided to join the Tanis Fiber Arts 2017 Year in Colour Club, and this hat was the January pattern (Heira) and yarn. A quick knit with lovely merino and alpaca bulky yarn - you have to imagine that the leftover ball of yarn is a pom-pom, that I will make when I figure out exactly how to make one.

Luckily I live somewhere with 6 months of winter!

This is what is on my needles now, I am glad to be back knitting with hand spun.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥︎

Circa 2016 Medallion Quilt Top

The fabric for the plain (floater) borders for my medallion quilt came, and I was able to finish piecing the quilt top.

 With the final border it is about 89"x94". It is all ready for quilting now!

While I was waiting for my fabric to do a scenic tour of Canada (it was lost in transit for awhile), I knit a hat from some leftover yarn that I spun last year. The pattern is Folkston by Susan Mills.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Medallion Quilt Outer Border

I finished piecing the Courthouse Steps blocks, and sewing them together for the outer pieced border of the Circa 2016 Medallion quilt. I am just waiting for some fabric to come in so I can add the plain borders, and finish piecing the quilt top.

My knitting is also coming along nicely - I love knitting gradients.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Ready for Chain Piecing!

All the pieces for the 44 Courthouse Steps blocks are cut out and ready to be sewn. This is my favourite kind of piecing!

Sunset last night

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Growing Medallion Quilt

I finished piecing the Saw Tooth block border (I need to buy some fabric for the plain fabric border/floater border, so it isn't attached yet).

I also starting piecing Courthouse Steps blocks for the outer pieced border on the quilt. This quilt will be a full sized bed quilt when finished.

Recently I have had to take apart a couple of knitting projects that were not working out, so I decided to start something new, and I did some dyeing.

This is the first gradient spun up, and I have started knitting a cowl. This was a quick spin to make 'Energized Singles' - there is a lot of twist in the yarn, which creates an interesting texture to the knitting (because of all the twist it is knit straight from the bobbin). This is the first time I have tried this technique - it is always good to try something new! This gradient is the bottom one in the above photo that shades to green.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

A Little Knitted Project

Yesterday I made a little knitted pumpkin with some leftover wool.

The pattern (Chic Little Pumpkins) is free on Ravelry until the 2nd of November 2016. It was a fun, little knit, and a perfect fall decoration.

I also finished sewing thirty four 5" Saw Tooth blocks for the next border on what I am now calling the Circa 2016 Medallion Quilt.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥