Marcelle Medallion {Finished}

This quilt has had the perfect ending. I spent a blissful afternoon hand stitching the binding and chatting to one of my closest friends while our kids played and we stitched. I know I say this about almost every quilty finish - but this quilt is my absolute favorite I've ever made. I think part of that is due to how enjoyable it was to put together - mainly because it changes so much with the addition of each border, and because it really tested my skills as a quilter.

When I first saw versions of this quilt popping up in blogland this year, I knew for sure I wanted to make it. I didn't think much more about it until Penny Poppleton announced her Marcelle Medallion QAL, and in the same week my daughter spotted Alexia Abegg's Liberty Love book in my local Spotlight. It was fate.

The colours for this quilt were inspired by a piece of Summer Totem fabric from Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Loulouthi collection - although it evolved somewhat from my initial fabric pull. I made it completely from stash (as opposed to scraps) but used well over 200 different fabrics, so it has a bit of a scrappy feel I guess.

I deliberately chose quilting designs that would enhance the piecing, and used a range of Aurifil thread colours to blend into the fabric as much as possible.

I used a different batting for the first time in this quilt. Ordinarily I use Matilda's Own bamboo batting - I know lots of people have had bad experiences with bamboo batting, but I really love it. I tend to buy batting by the roll - and when I ordered my latest lot I decided to get something with a little more loft. This one is a wool/cotton blend - it is a similar weight to bamboo or cotton, but has a little bit more loft. My quilting has a little more puff than usual, which I like a lot.

The quilting in the third border is completely inspired by blatantly copied from the way the amazing Krista Withers quilted a Marcelle Medallion recently, although I extended the design across the whole last three borders - following the straight lines in the grey/teal border up into the crosses. I used light grey Aurifil (2615) for this, and it has blended into the various low volume fabrics flawlessly.

You can read more about my quilting choices here and here.  

The one thing I'm not so stoked about with this quilt is the back. I think I rushed the basting too much, and as a result I have a few pretty hefty folds in the backing fabric. Since it's going to be a wall quilt anyway, I'm not at all phased by this. I still haven't washed it, but I'll take some 'after' photos as well - I'll be interested to see how the first and third borders look once washed.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Marcelle Medallion by Alexia Abegg
Fabric: a huge range of different collections and designers
Quilting: Done by me on my domestic Bernina, using Aurifil thread
Size: 60" square.