March of the Medallions

I've had a bittersweet kind of day today - I have just finished teaching the last of 8 sessions in my Marcelle Medallion class. I've gotten to know this wonderful group of ladies really well over the course of these classes, so I'm quite sad we have come to the end and I'll miss our Saturday afternoon sewing and chatting sessions. At the same time, I'm incredibly proud of what they have accomplished over the last few months (in a completely non-patronising way - more like a proud mum, I think!) It is a pretty intense quilt to make, and on top of that some of these ladies have only made one or two quilts before this one, so it is an incredible achievement.

It has been such a wonderful class to teach - watching each of these quilts grow and change has been a seriously amazing experience. One of my favorite things about making my version was how much it changes with the addition of each border, so watching it happen with seven different versions has been fascinating. Each class has involved a lot of admiring of the other quilts, which has been a beautiful thing to be part of. Every one of these quilts is so different, yet they are all absolutely beautiful. I'm definitely a proud mum, I think ;o)

I only have a photo of part of Margaret's quilt - she has been sick for the last few weeks but has actually finished her quilt top and it's at the quilters as we speak. I love how graphic her quilt is, and I can't wait to see the whole thing.



Helen's quilt is just beautiful - she wanted it to be happy, and I think she has definitely achieved that. I am just so in love with this version, I can't wait to see it quilted.



Fiona suffers from the same perfectionism with piecing as I do - and her points are absolutely amazing. Even the back of this quilt looks sensational.



I absolutely adore Cath's version of this quilt - her fussy cut third border looks completely amazing, and I love that wide border SO much. Most of the Marcelle Medallions I've seen have used a fairly complex palette, but I think it works really well with a simpler palette like this, too.



This is Briony's version of the quilt. I love the softness of the palette in this one, and the darker background for the flying geese works really well. It's a really gentle looking quilt.



And finally, this is Bernadette's quilt. It is even prettier in real life, very much like a watercolour.



You can probably understand now why I'm so gushy about having taught this class :o) We are hoping to catch up and share the finished quilts in a few months time, and I really can't wait.

Have a great weekend!
xx Jess

Sunday Stash?

I haven't had an opportunity to do a Sunday stash post for a while (you know, with the fabric diet and all). I did get a delivery of fabric a couple of weeks ago, but that's all for projects for publication so technically it isn't against my fabric diet rules - although it was ridiculously exciting to get a squishy parcel after so long ;o) None of the fabric I'm showing you today is intended for stash either, they will all be class samples for some of the classes I'll be teaching later in the year. But, I do have a couple of bundles of new fabric to play with, so I'm saying it counts for Sunday Stash ;o)

The first bundle is for a second Roundabout cushion as a sample for the class I'm teaching in July. You might remember the first one I made for the Pillow Talk Swap on Flickr last year.

Briony at Frangipani Fabrics curated this bundle based on the photo of my cushion - she did a beautiful job, and I'm really excited about making a second version :o)

Another class I'll be teaching is a sampler quilt based on the ten star blocks in the Vintage Quilt Revival book. I'm super, super excited about this class - we'll be covering lots of different techniques and I can't wait to start making the blocks. 

Hopefully I'll have some progress to share on these this week! Linking up to Sunday Stash at Quirky Hannah's place.

xx Jess

Marcelle goes Retro

Over the next couple of months, I will be teaching a wonderful group of ladies how to make a Marcelle Medallion quilt at one of my local fabric shops, Frangipani Fabrics. I taught my first class on Saturday and although I was ridiculously nervous about it, it was a really fun afternoon. Each of my students has chosen a completely different palette and it is going to be so much fun watching them all grow. Since I enjoyed making the first one so much, I've decided to make a second Marcelle along the course of my classes.

I wanted this second one to be completely different from the first, so I've chosen a really autumnal, retro kind of palette - lots of reds, oranges and yellows along with browns. I'm going to use the really pale blues for my background fabrics, which I think will work quite well. My initial fabric pull looks something like this (although I'm sure it will evolve slightly over the course of making the quilt).

I have partially pieced the centre star - I'm teaching the foundation paper pieced method I used in my first quilt, just to avoid all the y-seams and templates involved in the proper method (and because, you know, I love paper piecing!). Every fabric in here is a favorite, and I'm really excited about where it's heading.

So although this will be left on the backburner for the next week or so while I finish quilting my Maple Leaf quilt, I'll be slowly putting it together over the next couple of months (and hopefully entering it in this year's Island Quilts show - a major first for me.)

xx Jess