Medallion with Sashiko - finished at last

Ta-da!  Gwennie (Gwen Marston) Inspired Medallion Quilt finished at last!  We were challenged to interpret the following themes:

Basket (center) chosen by Lori at Humble Quilts
Childhood chosen by... me
Log Cabin as chosen by Cathy at Big Lake Quilter
Stars as chosen by Katy at KatyQuilts
"Something fishy"  as chosen by Wendy at The Constant Quilter

I do think if I had to do it all over again, I would have made my "something fishy" border much narrower, and added a very dark or very bright outer border.   And if not for this challenge, I would have stopped after the narrow log cabin border after the sashiko and called it all good as a wall hanging!



All that said,  I am SO THRILLED with the custom machine quilting by Hannah's Longarm Quilting in NH.  I looked at this quilt as a collaboration and so asked Hannah to quilt it however she wanted to quilt it and WOW... the results are fabulous!  Way beyond anything I would have thought to do or have the skill to do!

In so many places, the quilting echoed elements of the piecing/applique/sashiko.  I found it quite touching!  

And then the borders!!  Whoa!!!! 

For the backing, I used what I happened to have on hand from my quickly dwindling stash of Japanese fabrics: 

Thank you again Lori (Humble Quilts) for organizing us for this fun challenge!  

x

Cynthia 

Gwennie-Inspired Medallion Group - round one!

I have been wanting to:
1.  Make a medallion quilt
2.  Make a colorful improvisational quilt
3.  Just insert some easy fun into my quilting life

Then, Lori of Humble Quilts put out a request for ideas for collaboration with other bloggers... and I'm happy to say that five of us are teaming up to make "Gwennie-Inspired Medallion Quilts".  Yay!

I ordered Gwen's Liberated Medallion Quilts and I'm loving it!  Pure fun and inspiration.  (hint: Martha Washington knew how to improvise!)

In our Gwennie Inspired Medallion Group we will each have a turn determining the theme for one round of the quilt.

Here we are - and we are all making a start today:

Lori at Humble Quilts  (center - May) - BASKETS
Yours truly (second - June)
Cathy at Big Lake Quilter (third - July)
Katy at KatyQuilts (fourth - August)
Wendy at The Constant Quilter (fifth - September)


Can't wait to see how everyone interprets each theme.  May's theme is BASKETS as set by Lori.

I'm going to make this quilt "freehand" as much as possible, with contemporary fabrics.  FREE AND EASY.  I favor reproductions but sometimes these kinds of gorgeous modern fabrics call my name.  I went to one of my LQS's last week "for just a few solids" with this project in mind...  but came home with this (you know how it goes):

Checking the value/contrast with the black and white camera view.  Need more light-lights.

That wild print brings me back to my childhood!

Want to join in?  We would love to see what you come up with!

Here's what to do in May:

1.  Make a "liberated" (your definition of liberated) BASKET center for your medallion quilt.

2.  Check back in on June 6th for show and tell, and to get the second round's theme!

Have fun!
xo
Cynthia