LITTLE MEDALLIONS

THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY

In 2016 , I was organizing my bins of scrap fabrics and needed a diversion project.  I started pulling out fabrics that I thought could be fussy cut and sewn together as little medallions.  

 I ended up with 63 4-inch blocks and sewed them in a strippy-style quilt top. 

Top only

The sashing and border fabrics are from Moda's Grunge line.  I love the name as it reminds me of the "Grungies" (clothes) and "Woodsies" (outings in the mountains) of my days as a student at Colorado State University and University of Northern Colorado back in the good old days of the 1950s.  

 I had planned to hand quilt it; but, this was about the time the arthritic fingers and macular degeneration of the eyes started to control my quilting life and ended my hand quilting.  The top has remained unquilted in a storage basket under my sewing table since. 

AND NOW, THE END OF THE STORY

It is 5 years later, and I think I feel confident finally to try machine quilting it. It is bigger than anything I have machine quilted in the past.  It was a bit of a struggle, but numerous breaks made it doable.

 

The Stats:  Little Medallions, 2016-2021, 44"x45", Machine pieced, machine quilted, 63 4" medallions.

Quilting gave me the opportunity to revisit and enjoy each little medallion.  So much so, that now I want to make more.

P.S.:  Of course, I have grungie/woodsie pictures taken 5-15-1957

An all-girl woodsie, but the boys
 managed to find us by nightfall
for a bonfire.

In our sorority grungies. Yes, that's me on the left.

 

I REALLY MUST STOP

Yes, I really must stop making tops.  They are starting to pile up in the basket of ones that need quilted.  I've never been much of a machine quilter; so, consequently, I've never really learned.  Until arthritis, bad eyesight, and old age set in; I always thoroughly enjoyed hand quilting and would like to continue, but it is a slow go!

   

At any rate ----- here is the latest top finished:

Sixty-three little medallions in a 'strippy set'.

I had been wanting to use some of Moda's Grunge fabrics as I think the colors are scrumptious and I love the slight variation of pattern.  So I used a navy blue and a teal from Moda for the setting strips.  Also, I'm enamored with the name, grunge.  That sent me on a long internet search; and as expected, it led me to all of the Grunge Bands of the 1980s.  But, I was looking back further than that, and found nothing.  When I was in college in the 1950s, we would call our outdoor, hiking clothes "grungies".  We would wear our "grungies" to go on "woodsies" in the Colorado mountains.  Is anyone else that old and remembers that word?

Just a little off-subject------

I really do love this quilt, and want to hand-quilt it.

This is the wild fabric I have chosen for the backing.

So, hopefully, after the month of May quiets down; I can get it basted and sit in front of the air conditioner this summer and hand quilt.  No more "woodsies" in my "grungies" for me.  This is as wild as I get.

I'm joining the following:

Quilting Readers Garden for WIPS Be Gone Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday

Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for May's Scrap Problem Party

HERE'S A HINT -----

It's been snowing like crazy; plus, I've been trying to stay out of the way of workmen remodeling our bathrooms.  It is a win-win situation as I get to hide out in my sewing room.

I'm getting close to the finish of setting my Little Medallions into a quilt top.

 I'm ready to put a border on it.

Next week ---- hopefully, the finished top.

I'm joining the following:

Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

THE LAST OF THE MEDALLIONS

The last couple of days I have been sewing up 19 more little medallions that I had cut recently while organizing my scraps.

That brings the total up to 62 4" blocks.

Which means I have used more than 180 different fabrics from my stash bins.  That is not even making a dent --- I'm guesstimating that I must have over 2000 different fabrics accumulated over the last 40 years in those bins.  In my defense, some of those scraps are no bigger than 3-4 inches square each.

How did that hoarding habit happen????  Over the years, my purchasing mode of operation has been fat quarters. I always preferred 4 different fabrics rather than a yard of one fabric.   When I would travel to quilt festivals, etc., I set a budget and would buy as many fat quarters as I could ---- enough years and quilts equals a lot of scraps.

This has been a fun project for me as it really feeds into my love of fabric design, color, scraps, and fussy cutting.

I have an idea for setting these medallions together --- hopefully soon for my next blog post.

I'm joining the following:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday

Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

Quilting Readers Garden for WIPS Be Gone Friday

A Quilted Passion for Whoomp There It Is! Saturday

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday

Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social Wednesday

STASH BUSTING

Slowly, I'm making headway on my many bins of scraps.  I'm still working on my boxes of greens; plus I opened that old box marked 'paisleys and plaids'.  I've discovered more fabrics that cry out for some fussy cutting to make small medallions.

 I've made 15 more medallions.

 And, now have a total of 43.  

I'm getting anxious to decide on a setting option and a color to hold it all together.

My goal is about 60 of these 4 1/2 inch squares.

I'm sure I have at least 15 more boxes to go through -- slow going as I'm trying to sort, press, and refold.  Then I get distracted and make more little medallions!

I'm joining the following:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
A Quilted Passion for Whoomp There It Is Saturday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday

PROGRESS ON THE SCRAPS, MORE LITTLE MEDALLIONS

I'm making some progress on sorting, pressing, and refolding the fabrics in my myriad of scrap boxes.  I've plowed through several boxes of reds, blues, corals, pinks, teals, and browns.  Now, I'm working on the yellows and golds.

 And in the process, I've come across lots of fabrics that I thought would benefit from some fussy cutting to make little 4-inch medallions.  See my original post on making these little medallions (here).

 Since I last posted, these 14 medallions have been added to the pile.

I now have a total of 28 -- a good start on a small quilt for when I finish this sorting extravaganza.

I still have so many boxes ahead of me.  Up on the top shelf, I see a box marked 'paisleys and plaids' that I know hasn't been opened for years.  I'm anxious to get it down, as I bet there will be some great fabrics for fussy cutting medallions.  

However, not next week as I must get back to working on photos; my penance for having so much fun playing with fabric!!

I'm joining the following:
Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social Wednesday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday
Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday

FOCUS, FOCUS!!

One of my goals for 2016 is to conquer the 125-year's worth of photos I've been entrusted with for the next generation.  

I have 15 of these large media boxes, plus 10 years of photo files on my computer that need to be reorganized.  

This year I'm committed to accomplish some sort of order.  BUT, if I work on them too long, I go batty and buggy-eyed!

I NEEDED A DIVERSION.  So I've decided that I will work on the photos one week, then alternate a week working on sorting out my fabric scraps.

I've been quilting seriously since 1976 -- that's a lot of scraps.  I have some organization with most of the scraps sorted as to color in bins; but many fabrics have gone astray and found a home in the wrong bin. 

I need to go through every bin, refold, sort, etc. etc.  

For a someone who loves fabric, this can be more fun than looking at photos.  Once again, however, the problem is focus.  NOW I HAVE ANOTHER DIVERSION -- when I see a particularly enchanting fabric that would benefit from fussy cutting, I cut four half-square triangles.  Then at the end of the day, I sew up a couple of 4-inch medallion blocks. It takes eight half-square triangles to sew a medallion, plus some colorful fabric to contain the square since the half-square triangles are often cut on the bias. 

Is this the start of a new quilt?

Now this week I'm back on the photos.  (But, I just want to make little medallions!)

Focus, Sally, Focus.

I'm joining the following:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
A Quilted Passion for Whoomp There It is! Saturday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts  for Main Crush Monday
Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday