I LOVE MEDALLION QUILTS! I was so excited that this was the Island Batik Ambassador challenge for December. I started working on this project in August as I'm a teacher and I knew this year was going to be full of busyness. (And it so has been...)
This quilt uses the Mandala Magic by Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works. I started with this 10" square stack. Yes. That's it. All I used was this precut stack and about 4 yards of Island Batik solid black fabric! I challenged myself to see if I could do it. I even added the extra half-triangle border to use up the final bits! I have been making medallion quilts for years. They are truly one of my favorite kind of quilt to make.
Here is my inner block and first border. I had a lot of fun using my Accuquilt 8" Qube to cut all the pieces for this quilt. The best part? Cutting it with my Accuquilt made my piecing so precise I didn't have any trouble adding borders. They all fit on perfectly and I didn't have to adjust at all! AMAZING.
It was all stitched with Aurifil 50 weight thread in white. I know that was risky with a black background, but it's what I chose to do. You can always use a black sharpie to color the thread if it shows. I also used fabulous Schmetz microtex needles.
Here's the second border added.
And here is third border added and the start of the fourth border. I have no idea why I have gray Island Batik solid fabric hanging here. It's a mystery!
And the final beauty! This quilt is about 72" square and it's the largest quilt I've done yet on my Handiquilter Capri that I've had for about a year.
I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting in black. It's absolutely fantastic to work with and perfect for a quilt with a dark background like this one. (On a silly note, I was trying to trim the excess batting at 10pm at night in the winter with little light and it was quite challenging to tell the difference from the black fabric and the black batting. I had to hold my phone under my chin with the flashlight feature on to be able to tell where to trim! It was quite the adventure.)
And the final beauty. I am so glad I added the half square triangle border. I think it makes the quilt.
For the quilting on this quilt I decided to use motifs from the prints of the fabrics. In each black background I picked a different motif to use.
I hope you get to quilt today!Suzy
Suzy, this is beautiful! I really love the magenta and yellow border that's next-to-last. I also used black background fabric and pieces with a medium gray thread. I could see it in a few places and I broke out the black sharpie--fixed that problem!
ReplyDeleteI love medallion quilts, too - your's is just stunning! The black really makes all those gorgous colors pop. Love all the different quilting you did on it, too!
ReplyDeleteIt's a beautiful design. The black background and the custom quilting in each section makes it stunning.
ReplyDeleteWow! This quilt has some serious pizazz with the brights against the black background. I love your design and the way you quilted it, too. Have a fabulous day!
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