Bloggers' Quilt Festival

The biannual Bloggers' Quilt Festival is one of those blogging institutions that I have enjoyed from the sidelines for the last couple of years. Hosted by Amy at Amy's Creative Side, it is timed to coincide with the (for most of us) online eye candy of Quilt Market.

Anyway, Spring Market has been and gone but the current Festival remains open for entries until May 23rd. I am pleased to be entering for the first time this year and have decided to submit my Marcelle Medallion into the small quilt category. I know I have mentioned this quilt more than once before on this blog, so I hope you'll indulge me, but it really is my proudest quilting achievement to date and I feel very excited to be able show it off.

The Marcelle Medallion is one of those quilts that I had seen and admired several versions of on Instagram and Flickr. It was impossible to resist, therefore, when the lovely Penny Poppleton started a QAL in September last year. The #mmqal on Instagram is well worth checking out for some amazing versions of this quilt. The pattern is from the beautiful book Liberty Love by Alexia Abegg (she now of Cotton + Steel fame, the reason so many of us have had our eyes on all the Quilt Market pics!).

This quilt was utterly addictive to make. I started by foundation paper piecing the centre block to avoid any tricky templates and Y seams. This isn't as directed in the pattern but I am so glad as I did it for those pretty perfect points. 

From then on I simply worked through the pattern, piecing tiny triangles, teeny geese, mini bricks and lots and lots of cornerstones! I absolutely loved the piecing but agonised over ever single fabric choice. The bundle for the centre block was pulled around that gorgeous Blythe floral, and I decided to build up from there. I can't do scrappy, I need order, so I broadly alternated between warm and cool colours for each border. This pattern would be an amazing scrap buster but actually I cut into a lot of precious yardage to make this quilt. No regrets, that is what fabric is for and it is wonderful to see so many fabrics and lines I love, it really sums up my 2013 fabric purchasing for me! 

 

It is pieced and quilted in white Aurifil 50wt thread #2021. All the low volume background fabrics have a white (rather than cream or grey) tone to them and I wanted to reflect that in the quilting. I love the clean look the white gives and how it makes those saturated jewel colours really shine. It is quilted simply with the wavy serpentine stitch setting on my Janome machine, with my walking foot. I started by marking and quilting these lines 2" apart but when I was done decided it needed a heavier texture, so I went back and did the lines at 1" spacing. I am pleased I did.

Unlike all my other quilts, this has never been washed. I rather like the "flat" look of it, which was hard won after some vigorous basting!! It is indeed a small quilt by my reckoning, at just 59" square. My intention is to hang this one on the wall. Really must get my husband on that task!

Details as follows:

Pattern: Marcelle Medallion by Alexia Abegg (from Liberty Love)

Size 59" square (so 236" round)

Fabrics: Numerous. Blythe by Rebecca Bischoff for Robert Kaufman, Watefront Park by Violet Craft, Tsuru by Rashida Coleman-Hale plus many, many other prints and solids.

Backing: Pam Kitty Love birdies

Binding: Kona Nautical

Quilting: Wavy serpentine lines 1" spaced with white Aurifil 50wt #2021

There are, as always, lots of amazing quilts being entered in the Quilt Festival so be sure to check them all out!