The medallion quilts contained in this chapter are not complicated, but will require more time and a more expanded knowledge of many of the basic piecing principles we have covered in the first four volumes of Quilter’s Academy. These quilts have similar design elements in the quarter-square triangles and Flying Geese, but construction is very different.
We’re Going to the Chapel
Quilt top: 98˝ × 98˝
Carrie made this quilt for her and her new husband for their bedroom, and he even helped with the ironing! Carrie has a real love of Log Cabin quilts and has had a stack of coordinating fabric sitting in her sewing area for several years now, waiting for the right quilt to come along. This quilt was inspired by two different quilts Carrie found during one of her long and intensive Internet searches.
One quilt, called My Story by Marjorie Jo Mancuso, inspired the star center made from Log Cabin blocks, the three rounds of Log Cabin blocks that are technically the fourth border, and the Flying Geese border.
A website called Amish Country Quilts provided the second image. It too was a Log Cabin with a Flying Geese center, but it had a pieced center that inspired the first through third borders.
Yardage
1 yard red
⅜ yard each of 2 oranges
⅝ yard each of 2 yellows
½ yard brown
1 yard each of 5 assorted cream backgrounds
½ yard each of 4 assorted greens
½ yard each of 4 assorted blues
1½ yards dark green for plain borders
3 yards large green floral for outside border
Graph paper plan of quilt
Basics of Design
This quilt is not complicated to construct but is very time consuming due to the large number of Log Cabin blocks that need to be created. This quilt is also square, making it very easy to design and construct, but could easily have been made rectangular with the subtraction of the sixth border on the sides. As it is, it will fit nicely with a 22˝ drop on each side of a queen-size mattress and a 24˝ drop on the end.
If you are going to make a medallion quilt for a bed, It is good idea to be sure you know the size mattress you will need to be fitting the quilt to and work on designing the center and borders appropriately. In this case the Flying Geese border will just drop off the mattress on the sides and the plain border just toward the center inside the Flying Geese border will be what drops off on the end. The top of the quilt will pull up to the headboard without a pillow tuck so the entire set of border designs of the quilt will be seen at the top of the bed.
Construction
This quilt starts with the construction of 16 little Log Cabin blocks. These blocks have logs that measure ⅝˝ finished. Refer back to Quilter’s Academy Vol. 1, basic Log Cabin block construction. You will need to cut the strips 1¼˝ wide, so that you can trim them down as you go and make your blocks completely accurate in the end.
The only difference between these blocks and the ones covered in Volume 1 is that they have an uneven number of logs. The dark half has a total of six logs or three per side, while the light half has only four logs, or two per side. There are also two different color variations of these blocks.
The blocks are actually very similar in size and design to the little Log Cabin basket quilt in Volume 3.
Refer to the instructions in either Volume 1 or Volume 3 to create the 16 Log Cabin blocks needed. Once you have those done, lay them out in the star pattern shown in the picture, or play around with your design. The 16 Log Cabin blocks can make a number of different designs. The center of your quilt should measure 15½˝.
BORDER 1
This is the first of several plain borders that are used to make the following pieced border fit right. This border measures 1˝ wide finished and was cut ¼˝ wider than the 1½˝ cut size to allow for the contraction that is caused by sewing over so many seams in the Log Cabin blocks. Once this border is on, square the corners and trim to size. Your top should now measure 17½˝.
BORDER 2
This border is a nod to the look of the second inspiration quilt, even if it doesn’t resemble it in overall appearance. This border also is a place where knowing that the fifth border (the 2 rounds of Log Cabin blocks) needed to be a certain size and configuration is helpful. The border had to be adjusted in size to make everything work, so the small colorful spacers were added between the quarter-square triangles to make the border the correct length. Adding another quarter-square triangle would have made the border just a bit too long, and these types of triangles are not ones that look good if they get trimmed off at the end.
The quarter-square triangles are 2½˝ finished. Refer to Quilter’s Academy Vol. 3, Lesson Two for how to make these quickly and accurately. The spacers are ¾˝ × 2½˝ finished measurement, and the half-square triangles in the four corners are also 2½˝ square.
Just as before, you will add the side borders first and then add the top and bottom borders. The addition of this border will make your quilt top measure 22½˝.
BORDER 3
This is the second plain border and is the same width as border 1—1˝ wide finished.
Attach it the same as you did the other plain border. Square the corners and trim to size, which should be 24½˝.
BORDER 4
Here starts the endless sewing of Log Cabin blocks. These blocks are like those in the center—only 4 logs of light color and 6 logs of dark color. There are 2 different color versions of these blocks, just like in the center blocks. These blocks, however, use 1˝ finished logs—1⅝˝ cut.
Showing the 2 different color variations of the center Log Cabin blocks
You will need a total of 48 blocks, 24 of each of the color variations. Once they are constructed you can lay them out as in the picture of Carrie’s quilt. Now your quilt will really start to grow. With these borders added your quilt top should be 48½˝ square.
BORDER 5
This is another 1˝-wide finished plain border. Because the fabric used for all these borders is a busy paisley print, Carrie cut her strips the width of the fabric (42˝) and spliced the strips together to get the length she needed for these borders. The addition of these borders makes the quilt measure 50½˝.
BORDER 6
This border is a Log Cabin variation called Courthouse Steps. The Courthouse Steps blocks use a plain border on either side of them as a design element. You will need a total of 32 of these Courthouse Steps blocks. These blocks were created using the same 1˝-wide finished measurement, but start with a rectangular center that will measure 1˝ × 2˝ finished. A square of light is added to each end of this center rectangle.
Beginning of Courthouse Steps block
After the light squares are added and trimmed, you will need to add the longer strips of color again. All of this is done using the same strip-piecing method as for the regular Log Cabin; you are just sewing on two opposite sides of each block rather than in a circle.
Add the next strip to the Courthouse Steps block
Finally, you need to add another short strip of cream to the end of each of these rectangular blocks to complete them. Sew 8 of these rectangular blocks together to create each of the borders.
Adding the final strip to the Courthouse Steps block
To finish this border, 4 cornerstones are needed. Start with a square of one of your lighter colors, then add another square of a darker color. Trim the block and add a second strip of the darker color.
First and second step of cornerstone block
Add a strip of a third color, trim the block, and add a last longer strip of this same color.
Final step of cornerstone block
To finish this border add a second strip of cream to each end of each set of rectangular Courthouse Steps blocks, and add your cornerstones to the end of the top and bottom borders.
Once these are attached to the quilt, your top should measure 56½˝.
BORDER 7
Another plain border is added here, also with a 1˝-wide finished measurement. Apply, square your corners, and trim to size. You quilt top should now be 58½˝.
BORDER 8
This next border is fun to make. If you are using a lot of different fabrics as Carrie did, it is really fun to play with color placement and mixing up the background fabrics. Carrie chose to use the Flying Geese template method covered in Quilter’s Academy Vol. 3, Lesson Four. It is fast and easy to create four geese at a time. How you are able to mix up the background color is by using several different squares of background fabric with different-colored squares for the geese and then mixing up the units when you get to Step 3. This will not affect the geese, just the background. You will get two different backgrounds on each goose. If this is too scrappy for you, then just do a large mixture of backgrounds and stay with the instruction for the method. If you find another method for creating Flying Geese more accurate for you, then by all means use that method.
You need a total of 112 – 2˝ × 4˝ finished size geese. Carrie chose to put a spacer of one of her main fabrics in the exact middle of each of these borders so that the geese on each side fly into that spot. You can lay your geese out so they circle around the entire quilt, like Harriet has done in Geese in Flight. This is a design element that is entirely up to you.
To complete this border there are 4 cornerstones made of 4˝ finished half-square triangles, using the same main fabric as the spacer. Add these cornerstones to the top and bottom borders.
Diagram of border cornerstones added to top and bottom borders
Apply these borders the same as before, side on first, then top and bottom. At this point your quilt top is growing by leaps and bounds and now should measure 66½˝ square.
BORDER 9
Here is the last of the interior plain borders. This border is quite a bit wider than the others so that the final Log Cabin border will fit and the blocks will turn the corners correctly. This border measures 3˝ finished and was 4˝ cut, just to make sure there was a little fudge room once the next border was constructed and measured. Do not pre-trim this border. Leave it as is, until the final pieced border is completed.
BORDER 10
This is the final pieced border. It contains 144 Log Cabin blocks with ¾˝ finished strips. These blocks are the same basic construction as the other two sets we have made, but the coloration is a bit different. In these blocks, Carrie wanted to mix up all the colors used in the quilt, but not completely randomly. Look closely at this closeup photo of the drawing she developed as a shorthand way of drafting out the color placement on this final border.
Closeup photo of outer border of We’re Going to the Chapel
The basic color combinations used are as follows:
All these color combinations are necessary so that as you are placing the blocks on your design board, at no time will you have the exact same colors next to each other. This process gives this border a sort of sparkle effect, especially where the yellows, oranges, and browns meet.
You can mathematically break down how many of each variation you need like this: 144 ÷ 16 = 9. But if you don’t want that many of the yellows, oranges, and browns, make 4 times as many of the blue and green combinations, or 18 each of blue and blue, green and green, blue and green, and green and blue. Then evenly divide the rest. This means you need to make 4 blocks each of the other 12 combinations to make the other 72 blocks. If this seems like too much work, then throw your strips in a paper bag and pull them out as you sew and make them ultra scrappy, similar to what Carrie did with her 1930s baby quilt in Quilter’s Academy Vol. 2, Lesson Six.
Once you have all the blocks constructed, sew them into the 2 rows of 16 blocks each for the side borders and 2 rows of 20 blocks each for the top and bottom borders. Attach them to your quilt. Once these borders are added, your quilt should measure 84½˝ square.
BORDER 11
The final border on our quilt was the inspiration fabric for the whole thing! This means this border needs to be large enough to really show off! This border was cut 8˝ wide and after it was quilted it was trimmed down to 7˝ finished.
So there you have it, the largest quilt yet! Certainly the largest quilt Carrie has ever made.
note
Carrie would like to thank Lori Housel for quilting this quilt for her and new husband David. Being still a new quilter, and having never quilted anything this large before, Carrie did not feel confident that she could handle a quilt of this size. Lori is a longarm quilter we have long recommended through our store because of her quality of workmanship, and the fact that she has a Gammill machine with a Statler Stitcher, making it possible for her to completely custom design and quilt to the top maker’s desires. That is exactly what she did for Carrie and David. They sat down for about an hour and worked out the quilting designs on each border and for each element of the quilt, so that it would have the look of the quilting Carrie would have done on her own machine. Lori also used Harriet’s private-label .004 nylon thread from YLI and Presencia 60/3 on the back. The quilt came back better than Carrie could have imagined, and David and Carrie can’t wait to get their bedroom repainted and decorated so this showpiece can have its home on their bed.
Basic Framed Medallion
Quilt top: 57˝ × 57˝
A basic medallion with typical components
Line drawing of Basic Framed Medallion
This quilt was inspired by the framed medallion quilts of the early 1800s. Elements of the quilt include LeMoyne Star, four-patch units, Flying Geese, and quarter-square triangles—all traditional units found in the earliest quilts. All these techniques have been taught in Quilter’s Academy Vol. 1–4, and we will be referring back to these books for specific instructions for each of the different units in the quilt top. Consider this a warm-up quilt for those coming later in the book.
Yardage
½ yard each of 3 different backgrounds
⅛ yard dark brown (LeMoyne Star)
¼ yard each of 4 different reproduction blues
½ yard multicolor floral
¼ yard light brown print (triangle border)
½ yard brown print for Flying Geese
⅛ yard medium/dark brown stripe—first strip border
⅛ yard medium/dark brown—second strip border
¼ yard dark print—third strip border
¼ yard each of 4 different brown prints for quarter-square triangle units
1¾ yards stripe for outside border
Basics of Design
To the left is a diagram that breaks the quilt down to the elements in each border. We suggest that you enlarge and photocopy this diagram and color in your fabric selections to give you an idea of how they will play out in each border.
Construction
LEMOYNE STAR BLOCK
LeMoyne Star block
The center of the quilt is a 9˝ LeMoyne Star. Any 9˝ block can be substituted if you do not care to take the time to construct the star.
For 9˝ block, you will need to cut:
4 – 3⅛˝ squares of background
1 – 5˝ square of background, cut into fourths diagonally
2 – 2⅜˝-wide strips, 1 of each fabric, for the star diamonds. Cut 4 – 45° diamonds from each strip, each diamond cut 2⅜˝ long.
For complete details of constructing eight-pointed stars, refer to Quilter’s Academy Vol. 4—Senior Year, Class 440. Once the star block is constructed, make sure that it is exactly 9˝ point to point both directions, 9½˝ square unfinished.
BORDER 1—STRAIGHT STRIP
Now you are ready to add the plain strip that goes between the LeMoyne Star block and the pieced border. This plain border can be cut to accommodate any issues with the size of the LeMoyne Star you may have had. The goal is to have the outside, unfinished measurement of the center be 12½˝ square—exactly. The star block and the strip have to measure 12½˝ unfinished at this point in order for the pieced border to fit correctly. We suggest that you cut the strips wider than you need so that you can trim them to be exactly the needed width.
Cut:
4 – 2˝ × 9½˝ strips (or wider and trim) border fabric
4 – 2˝ (or wider and trim) squares for corners
Stitch a strip onto two sides of the LeMoyne Star block. Iron the seam allowance toward the strip. Stitch the squares onto the ends of the remaining strips. Iron the corners toward the strip and attach to the top and bottom of the star block, butting the corner square seams perfectly. Iron the seams toward the strip.
Center a 12½˝ square ruler with the star and align the ruler lines with all the seams to assure that you are square and straight on all four sides. Trim the strips you just added so that the whole unit is exactly 12½˝ square.
BORDER 2—FOUR-PATCH AND FLYING GEESE
This is the first pieced border, consisting of 12 four-patch units and 4 – 3˝ × 6˝ Flying Geese units. The four-patch units are made using 2 fabrics. They are 1½˝ finished, cut 2˝.
You will need to cut:
1 – 2˝ × 53˝ strip of each fabric
Sew the strips together, iron toward the dark, and then cut into 2˝ segments. Construct 12 four-patch blocks. Square each block to be exactly 3½˝.
You will also need 4 – 3˝ × 6˝ Flying Geese units. Construct these by any method you prefer. If you need help, we gave four different techniques for making Flying Geese in Quilter’s Academy Vol. 3, Class 350.
Once all the units are made, lay out the pieces around the center unit. The four-patch units are in the corners and the Flying Geese units are in the center. The geese units point outward, forming the appearance of the center’s being on point. The four-patch units can mirror one corner to another or all go the same direction. Try both layouts and see which looks best with your fabrics.
Optional layouts for four-patch units
Once you have made your decision, sew the units together. Starting with the shorter borders, sew a four-patch to each end of the goose units. Iron the four-patch units toward the goose units. Join 2 four-patch units to each other, and repeat to get 4 pairs. Attach one of these units to each end of the goose units.
Add the short pieced borders first, ironing the seam allowance toward the strip. Add the other two sides next, again ironing toward the strip. At this point, the quilt top should be exactly 18½˝ square.
BORDER 3—STRAIGHT STRIP
The next border is another plain strip—1˝ wide finished. When cutting the strips, add at least ¼˝ to the cut measurement to allow for adjusting for the next pieced border.
Cut:
2 – 1¾˝ × 42˝ strips
Subcut into 2 – 19½˝-long and 2 – 22˝-long border strips.
Stitch the 2 – 19˝ strips onto opposite sides of the quilt top. You should have ½˝ extending beyond each end. Iron toward the strips and then the square ends. This border should retain the 18½˝ measurement in length. Center and pin the remaining two borders into position, again extending the ends ½˝. Stitch, iron toward strip, and square ends. You will need to trim the strip to be 1¼˝ wide, but first check to see that the center is still square and to size (20½˝ raw edge to raw edge). We suggest that you wait to trim until the fourth border is constructed to check for size.
BORDER 4—DOGTOOTH BORDER
Cut:
8 – 4⅜˝ squares background—cut in half diagonally
10 – 4⅜˝ squares medium print—cut in half diagonally
4 – 3˝ squares for corners
tip
We can’t stress enough how important it is to trim all the corners of the triangles for this border with the Perfect Patchwork Corner Trimmer by Marti Michell. This trimmer allows the points to line up exactly, giving you an accurate seam allowance along the long sides of the border.
Lay out the pieces as in the diagram below. You will need 4 background and 5 medium print triangles in each border. Sew the triangles into pairs, and then join them all together. Iron the seams very carefully, as you are dealing with a lot of bias along the edges. It is helpful to iron the seams so that the seam intersections show as much as possible to help you hit the points when attaching the border.
Layout of triangles
The triangles at the ends of each border will be cut off once the border is ironed and measured. Each strip must measure 21½˝ at this point.
Cutting ends
Pin and sew two of these units to the sides of the quilt center, background fabric edge to the quilt top (see illustration below). Iron the seam allowance toward the plain strip.
Border placement
Attach the corner squares onto the ends of the remaining two borders. Iron the seam toward the square. Pin and sew these borders to the quilt center, matching the seam intersections. Iron the seam allowance toward the plain strip.
tip
It is very important that all the seam allowances be accurate on this border. The half-triangles at the end of each border must be accurate to make the corner diagonal line straight. If you don’t have ¼˝ beyond the point at the corner seam once the border is attached, the corner triangles will not align properly when the second border is added. Attention to this detail will make your corner much easier to achieve. Draw in the ¼˝ seam allowance lines on the triangles as well as the border strip and match the intersections exactly. Pin securely and sew.
Check the quilt for being square again. At this point, the quilt top should be 25½˝ square. If it is smaller than that, an optional strip border can be added here to bring the top up to size for the Flying Geese border. We suggest that you not do anything about this until the Flying Geese border is constructed, as the actual measurements may vary from the mathematically correct ones.
BORDER 5—FLYING GEESE
This border is made with 40 – 2½˝ × 5˝ (finished) Flying Geese units, 10 on each side of the quilt. Use any method you prefer for making the Flying Geese. We prefer to work with Harriet’s Flying Geese Templates because of the extreme accuracy as taught in Quilter’s Academy Vol. 3, Class 350, Lesson Four.
If you choose this method, you will need to cut:
10 – 8˝ squares light background fabric
10 – 6½˝ squares goose fabric
Once the Flying Geese are constructed, join 10 in a row for each border. The length of these borders should fit the sides of your quilt top. If they are too long, the extra strip we discussed above can be added to increase the size of the quilt top in order to accommodate the borders.
Attach two borders on opposite sides of the quilt top, being careful not to cut off any points. Check that the geese are flying in opposite directions. Carefully iron seams toward the fourth border. Add the corner squares to the 2 remaining geese borders and attach to the remaining sides of the quilt top. Iron carefully.
BORDER 6—STRAIGHT STRIP
This border is another plain strip, 1˝ wide finished. Repeating the process we did for the third border, cut the strips wider than needed, measure to length through the center of the quilt top, and cut to length plus 1˝. Center, pin, and let ½˝ extend beyond the edge of the quilt top on each end. Stitch, being careful not to cut off any geese points. Iron toward strip and then add the remaining two sides.
BORDER 7—QUARTER-SQUARE TRIANGLES
The final pieced border is made of quarter-square triangles. Instructions for making these can be found in Quilter’s Academy Vol. 3, Class 340, Lesson Two.
These units need to be 5˝ finished, 5½˝ cut.
You will need to cut:
14 – 6½˝ squares background fabric
14 – 6½˝ squares various darker prints
Be sure that when you square the blocks the seams are exactly in the corners. Marsha McCloskey’s Precision Trimmer 6 is our favorite ruler for trimming to exact sizes.
Lay out the blocks in the desired color arrangement. You will be stitching 7 blocks together per side.
Color arrangement for quarter-square blocks
You will find that this border is not long enough to fit the edges of the quilt top at this point. When drafting this quilt design, we found that if the blocks were large enough to fit the given length of the quilt top, the blocks were too big and bulky—out of proportion to the rest of the top. The way around this is to add a spacer to the ends of the borders to gain the needed extra length.
Cut:
8 – 1½˝ × 5½˝ strips of the background fabric used in the quarter-square triangle blocks
Attach a strip to each end of the border strips. This measurement can be adjusted to fit your actual measurements once the plain strip is trimmed. Iron the seam allowance toward the spacer.
Attaching spacers to the ends of borders
Cut:
4 – 5½˝ squares for corner squares. Attach them to the ends of 2 of the borders.
Before adding these borders, trim the plain Border 6 to 1¼˝. The length of the quarter-square blocks and the spacers should equal the length of the quilt top once this is trimmed. Adjust the trimming amount to make these two measurements match if necessary.
Sew the borders onto the quilt top.
BORDER 8—FINAL BORDER
The final border can be any width you think looks good on your top. This can change considerably with the color, busyness, and pattern of the fabric you have selected. Audition the fabric at different widths and go with what you think looks best. We always suggest that the final border be cut a couple of inches wider than needed to aid in the quilting process. The excess is trimmed away once the quilting is finished.
The quilting on this quilt is quite heavy and very true to how the original medallion quilts were quilted. Here is a line drawing illustration of how Harriet quilted this quilt top.
Typical quilting ideas for a framed medallion
Basic Frame Medallion Variations
Carrie’s version of this quilt using the same fabric collection as Harriet
While team teaching this quilt at a retreat, we were seeing some of the tops telling the student to stop. No matter what we tried, the quilt seemed to be finished, even though there were borders left to add. That sent us to wanting to play with the idea of using the same fabrics in different ways and experience how the tops would progress. Carrie’s stopped much sooner than Harriet’s did. The center of Carrie’s quilt reads very light compared with Harriet’s. Once the Flying Geese were added to Carrie’s center, the addition of anything else seemed to overpower it. The Flying Geese in Harriet’s quilt are lighter than the brown in the center, so it remained balanced and able to handle more borders. Perhaps if we had had more fabrics to work with, Carrie’s quilt could have continued; but with a limited palette, this is where the quilt said to stop.
Harriet’s version of this quilt using the same fabric collection as Carrie
Carrie also wanted to make this quilt in the same color palette as the original but with modern prints. Notice how the quilt changes. This version is still an elegant quilt, but a long way from the basic medallion where we started. The possibilities are endless.
Carrie’s modern fabric version of the original quilt