Monday, May 20, 2013

Marcelle Medallion: a finish!

It is finally finished! My marcelle medallion quilt is completely done and I am so, so in love. I even got it done in time for Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side like I had hoped :) And I never thought I'd say this, but I get to enter it in the hand quilting category!



I am pretty sure this is one of my favorite quilts I've made ever. It is from the book Liberty Love, and it is just a fantastic medallion quilt. I had been planning to make a medallion quilt for ages, I just hadn't found the right one and when I first saw this one, I knew it would be it. I couldn't even stop myself from starting and before I knew it I had a completed quilt top. I started with the center and had no real idea where I was going with it, which was a fun way to work for once. I knew I wanted it to be calmer than the original, but in general my only rule really was no black. I had so much fun picking out my rainbow of fabric and just playing and making it pretty! So many favorites that I am not sure I would have ever used all together, but this style quilt was absolutely perfect. I even used some amazing voile for the back and it is just the softest quilt ever. The only changes I made to the pattern were to leave off the final border and when I did the plus blocks, I kept each background the same fabric instead of making it totally scrappy. And while I may not have made this quilts out of actual scraps, I didn't buy any new fabric for it, which felt really good. I figure any quilt where I can use my whiles and mermaids is a good one.



It took a bit longer than normal to finish this up since I decided that I wanted to hand quilt it. I have never hand quilted anything before, not even a small something, so it seemed a little crazy, but once I got hand quilted concentric circles into my head, I couldn't get it out and it had to be done. I used a size 12 pearl cotton since that's what I found and I love that it is a little chunky, but not too much. I actually enjoyed the experience quite a lot. I used random plates/pots/trays/bowls to trace the circles in the beginning until I ran out of things big enough and then I used a ruler and marked the circles however many inches away. I used my hera marker to mark and it worked pretty well although it was hard to see unless I had really good light. Still, I really loved not having to worry about any markings disappearing. I only used a quilting hoop for the center until I outgrew it and then just propped it up with my knees and went to town. I bound it in leftover scraps of binding I had and I am really happy with how that worked out.



I am really super proud of this one! I can't believe I hand quilted an entire quilt (!!!) and I just hope it can withstand being used. This was originally going to be for my baby-on-the-way, but I don't know if I can part with it, so I think it might be mine. It just has so many of my absolute favorite fabrics in it and I just want to look at it all the time. I have seriously considered hanging it on the wall, but I'm not sure I have space for that. It finishes right around 55" square. And I just have to include this picture of my little helper, because man, she's pretty cute :) She likes to help and take pictures of the quilt too on her play camera.



And now that this is finished, I can work on quilting the quilt that actually is for the baby! And about a million other things....but that's besides the point. Happy quilt festival everyone! Who else has entered a quilt?

13 comments:

  1. It's turned out so well! Love it. Lots of luck in the festival. x

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  2. It is gorgeous! I hope you find a place in your home to hang it.

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  3. Cassie, it's gorgeous!! Congrats on the finish and I can't believe you hand sewed it- awesome!

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  4. Your stitching is perfect! Lovely quilt.:)

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  5. Beautiful! A friend of mine just started one of these and I've loved watching it develop...

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  6. Nice medallion quilt and good for you for hand quilting it! It should stand up as well as any other quilt, and with all the extra time involved, it's stitched even more full of love!

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  7. I love this! The colors are perfect. I don't think I could give it away either.

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  8. It's a beautiful quilt! That deep blue voile on the back is the perfect companion to the front - lovely!

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  9. How darling! It is just fun to look at - and I love hand quilting!

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  10. Nice job! Such bright happy colors. Fun taking pictures together with your little girl, isn't it.

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  11. It's so beautiful and congrats on hand quilting the whole thing!

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