Tuesday, May 12, 2015

One Step At A Time: Stop One on C&T's Blog Hop ~ and GIVEAWAY!

Helloow!  And welcome to the first stop on C&T's "The Modern Medallion Workbook Blog Tour!"



C&T has just released The Modern Medallion Workbook, and I am so so so very happy to have my One Step at a Time quilt be a part of it!

When I first found out about this book, medallion quilts were just coming back into vogue, but I admit that I had NO clue what a medallion quilt was! So, if you're like me, wondering what makes a design a medallion, and if it is even possible to make it look modern, here you go! :)  Here's my definition: a medallion quilt is one where the center block is a point of interest, maybe a star, maybe a basket of flowers, maybe a swirl of hexagons, and then each border radiating away from the center is different, and unique.


The novel concept behind THIS book is that it truly is a workbook. If you are making your own modern medallion quilt and like the center block from one quilt, and then like the third border another quilt, but don't like the rest of the borders, just pull it out and incorporate it into your quilt! Easy peasy! You are literally able to resize and redesign any quilt you want by taking bits and pieces from all the quilts and making it your own! I love that idea! :)

Or what if you love a design, but don't love the colors the designer used? Well, you are in luck! There are coloring pages at the back of the book (and my oldest daughter is very interested in these!) :)



And as an added bonus, there are loads of techniques highlighted in here. Pieced curves, applique, paper-piecing...not only can you make beautiful quilts, but you'll become a more talented quilter along the way! Jackpot!

It's a great book. It really is. Again, I feel so humbled to be included in a publications with the likes of Latifah Saafir, Becca Bryan, Erica Jackman, and Janice Ryan (our fearless leader), to name just a few!  And not only that, but the quilts they designed are really, truly, STUNNING. Stunning. Those ladies have got some real talent! :)

So for me, when it came time to design the quilt, I started with a sketch using grays and yellows, but that was too dreary. And I didn't want to be a TOTAL broken record and design ANOTHER rainbow quilt, so I went with a color scheme I think is truly fresh and modern and delightful -- cool greens and blues with a pop of coral. One of my favorite outfits from 8th grade was a navy blue skirt and a kelly green sweater with blue trim. I loved this color combination then, and I love it now!
                          
For my medallion, I went with a swirl of hexagons. I do love me some hexagons! I used an invisible thread and my blind hem stitch to applique them to the background fabric.
                            


And then, each border is a different method of creating a chevron. There are four unique chevron borders on this quilt, and I think each one would make a lovely quilt!

(In fact, the border that started this whole thing is the Palace Steps border, which I designed for this quilt that the Faith Circle of the do.good stitches bee made for Restore Innocence in 2013)

                                  Palace Steps ~ finished.  


When it came time to quilt it, I wanted to quilt each section/border in a way that was reflective of that border, if I could. And frankly, I kinda made it up as I went along. :)

In the center, I quilted a swirl of feathers...if you could call it that? I just wanted to mirror the hexagons, and I like how it turned out!
                            
Then in the first border, I quilted half-flowers in each large triangle space. Maybe I should call it a fan? I don't really know! :)
                          

And the corner treatment:

                             

In the green quarter-circle border, I quilted what reminds me of a fern frond. There is a "stem" that curves through each "leaf" section, and then blades that are quilted on either side of that stem.                            


 The third border is quite possibly my favorite because I had a vision, but it was complicated, and then I came up with a method to create the border with a lot less trouble than my original idea! I love it when that happens.  Anyway...I quilted it with gentle waves.                         
And in the final border, I quilted more waves, but in both directions, as the steps went up and down.
                        


And now for the true truth: this was hard for me! Even though I had the design, and had the skills to create the quilt and to write the pattern, this was possibly the hardest thing I have done as a quilter.  The perfectionist monster inside of me came out in an ugly manner more than a few times! I don't like that. Maybe if I were to submit another quilt to another book, I would be a little less wound up about it, I don't know, but this was HARD!! :)

Don't get me wrong, I am very glad I did it, and Janice was a PHENOMENAL asset to the completion of this book, she was on top of everything, encouraging the authors to get their stuff in on time, and patient as a dove with me in all my insecurities. She is the rock and the glue and the life that made this workbook really come together.  (FYI - in case you are wondering why I'm mentioning Janice so much, she and Beth split up the list of contributors so I didn't really hear much from Beth since Janice was my team captain.)

This blog hop continues for another 10 days, so please visit the other contributors and read about how their modern medallions took shape!
May 13th: Amy Sinibaldi- nanaCompany.typepad.com

The giveaway is closed. Annmarie from Wisconsin is the winner. :) Thanks for all your lovely comments!
 
Now to the GIVEAWAY!!  I personally HATE Rafflecopter, so i'm not going to go that route.

 C&T has offered to give one copy of the book to one lucky recipient here. If you win, and you live in the US, you will receive a hard copy of the book. If you live outside the US, you'll receive an electronic copy of the book.

 So...to win, I would like you to leave one comment with what your favorite modern color combination is right now. :)  It's that simple! (Giveaway will close at 11:00pm MDT Friday the 15th of May)</s>

 And then, tomorrow, go visit Amy's blog. ;)

Have a great day!
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