Metro Medallion Finished.

Okay, first off - sorry about the lame presence here on the blog. I have been so busy! I can finally breath and hopefully will have more time to spend on here. But, what a better way to come back to the blog than by sharing a finished quilt!?!

So, I have wanted to make a new quilt for my bed for a while. My mom made me a beautiful quilt 5 years ago and I have loved it and used it this whole time, but I am up for a change and I decided that Sew Kind of Wonderful's pattern Metro Medallion would look amazing on my bed. I have made this pattern before using the Quick Curve Ruler - it's really an easy pattern and it got easier with each block I made. Don't be afraid of the curves!

Isn't the quilt fantastic? It is huge! It is 102 x 104 inches which fits my bed nicely - you will see that later in the post. I definitely made the quilt larger than the pattern directions show, but that was just a matter of buying more fabric. Who doesn't like to buy more fabric?
The fabrics used in my quilt are from several manufacturers and designers. I just pulled colors that I like and put them together and I didn't write them down, so please don't ask me what each print is...pretty please! ;-)

This quilt took me several months to make, but mainly because I was busy writing my second book which comes out in September - so I was pretty crazy. It also took me a while longer because I wanted to add the squares on point in the white Metro Medallion blocks.

I ended up changing the shape of the square on point - the original design has a diamond, but I find it easier for me to piece with squares. So the blue polka dot fabric was a 3 1/2" square sewn along the diagonal line, trimmed and then the inside aqua fabric was a 2" square sewn along the diagonal line and trimmed. I was going to use different colors for the inside square, but changed my mind because it would have taken me a lot longer to place the colors.
As you can see the bright fabric color placement is random, but also on purpose - if that makes sense. I always lay out my quilt blocks and play around with them to figure out the perfect placement. I didn't pre-plan how many colors of each block I would make - so that is why I needed to play with it before I sewed the quilt top together.

Originally I was going to quilt an allover design - I know, gasp! - I didn't want to spend as much time as I usually do on this quilt because it was going to be used for my bed. But then I thought a lot about it and knew that I couldn't just quilt an allover design, so I came up with this simpler quilting design. I threw in some fun custom designs on a few of the medallions like the one above, but for the most part, the blocks were quilted with fast, free-motion fills.

I was able to quilt the fun curves in the navy blue fabric using the QCR Curvit longarm ruler - it was my first real attempt at using a curved ruler and it was fun! I think I see more curves in my future. Don't you love the beads in between the curved lines? I do - the look is just perfect.

When all was said and done, I did have to go back and add another curved line in the navy blue fabric. Compare this block above to the picture before this and you will see what I am talking about. Even with all of this - my crazy detailed self would love to redo this project and go to town on the quilting detail, but I am honestly happy with the results. It was a new challenge for me to limit my quilting.

Um yes, thank you diagonal striped fabric for being the perfect fit for the finishing touch on this quilt. Don't you just love it?
Oh, and before I forget - I used Glide thread for the top and bottom and I used only one layer of 100% bleached cotton Hobbs batting.

I love the texture on the back - you can see I tried several different designs - not all of them are perfect, but it was good practice for me since I have been traveling a lot and not quilting as much as I would like. It seriously was a lot of fun.

I started the quilting with this block design above, but I am so glad I decided against finishing the whole quilt with this design - I would still be quilting it!

Okay, so here is my room before Metro Medallion. This is the quilt my mom made for me and I absolutely love it still! The colors are exactly what I loved 5 years ago and I still love, but I just needed a change. I think we all need a change every now and again. It was also really fun going to Home Goods and buying new stuff.

I changed out the drapes - they are a lot brighter now and the room will feel brighter.

I also bought new pillows and new bedside lamps. It really goes well with the quilt.

I love the little details in the quilt top that I will be able to enjoy from now until I have a hankering for a change. Another 5 years I am sure.

So I made the quilt long enough to cover our deep mattress and box spring. I didn't want to worry about making a bed skirt, so a bigger quilt was the answer to that dilemma.

This picture shows a little of the mattress, just to give you an idea of what I mean about not making a bed skirt. The quilt, if pulled just right fits perfectly to the frame of the bed on both sides of the bed.