medallion quilt – finished!

Originally, I was a little misleading about this quilt.  I had said that “a friend” and I were making a medallion quilt together and that we didn’t have much of a plan beyond that. I started the initial center star block and mailed it to her. Then, she made the next border, and sent it back to me.  And so forth and so on.  Now that it’s finished and has been gifted, I can tell you that the “friend” was my sister who lives in Park City, Utah, and that we had an intended recipient all along.  We made it for my brother’s new baby–our beautiful, sweet, sweet niece who lives in Maine.  My sister proposed the plan because she wanted to make the new baby a quilt, and she knew that I’d want to do the same.  We decided it would be fun to blog about the process because my brother and his wife follow the blog, but we didn’t think they’d suspect anything.  {Also, I’ve been pretty bad about blogging of late, so this was a way to help me out of my slump.}

It was so fun to make a quilt this way.  I felt like I was getting a present in the mail everytime it was sent back to me.  We initially had a plan that we were going to try to fit one mermaid in each round, but that didn’t happen. And it didn’t matter one bit. I tried to fit in a few things that have meaning to this new family.  {One of the stars has a dog print because they have a beloved dog. Another has a VW van because my parents had one when we were kids. Yet another has a Heather Ross fish-in-bag named Thomas because that is the name of the baby’s mom’s only sibling and they are very close.}  The prints are a total mix from my stash.  I was going to try to name them, but I just don’t have the memory for it! Of course, the feature fabric is from Heather Ross’ much coveted Mendocino line.

I quilted it in a pattern that echos the center star and I am thrilled with how it came out. I chose to use a thicker binding than I usually make because I felt like the quilt could use a nice strong, blue frame.  That fabric is a Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley print. The backing fabric is the same yellow Joel Dewberry Chestnut Hill “Ironworks” print that dominates the third border from the center.  It is one of my all time favorite prints, so I have stocked up on it and use it quite a bit.  I also used my favorite “Dick and Jane” text print in some of the stars.

It was so nice to meet the beautiful baby who now owns this quilt. She is just adorable. It’s also pretty amazing to see my brother as a dad, and his wife as a mom.  They are such a great little family.