Are you ready for some fun? How about a quilt along? This is the brain child of Lori over at Humble Quilts. Lori, myself, and four other blogger/quilters will be working on Gwen Marston inspired medallion quilts! Lori is choosing the theme for the center, and then each month one of the quilters in our group will be choosing a theme for a border. And to make it even more fun, you can play along! We will be sharing our progress each month on our blogs and announcing the theme for the next border at that time.
I have loved Gwen’s work for ages. If there was one person I would like to sit and watch work in her studio, it would be Gwen Marston. I thought today I would show you a few of my Gwen inspired quilts. These are oldies! The first one was patterned in Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts and it was called Pokeberry.
This one started out as a round robin project with my local guild.
I remember so clearly working on this little quilt! I was so pleased with how precise everything was turning out. I made my HSTs for the outer border, added the white border and, WHAT????!?!?!?! I cut the white border wrong! I was so upset I had to walk away. I went to get the mail and my copy of Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts had arrived. I turned to Gwen’s column and she had written an article about piecing borders and chopping off what didn’t fit. It was a light bulb moment for me. She said this was the way women had worked for years and it wasn’t necessarily wrong. I went back to my little top, measured my HST borders and chopped off the extra.
And the world did not end.
At that very moment, I felt that I began to own my quilt making journey. I could and would continue to learn from others, but this was MY journey and I could do whatever I wanted. The quilt police lost their power.
This one I made in the late 90s when we lived in France. It was inspired by Gwen’s work in her book, Liberated Quiltmaking.
I can’t tell you how many wonky star baby quilts I have made using this idea!
Here are just a few of Gwen’s books. They are all fabulous.
So, won’t you join us in our Gwen Inspired Medallion Quilt Along? The assignment for the first month, is to make the enter block. And the theme for the center, is a basket. Or maybe a cluster of baskets, pieced, appliquéd, whatever! In any size you want. We will announce the theme for the first border on the first Monday of next month. Four borders will be added to the basket center. We will have link ups to share your progress each month. I can’t wait to see how everyone chooses to interpret the basket theme!
It is sure to be fun! Here are the other participating bloggers:
Wendy –http://theconstantquilter.blogspot.com/
Cynthia-http://wabisabiquilts.blogspot.com/
Cathy- http://wwwbiglakequilter.blogspot.com/
Katy- https://katyquilts.wordpress.com/
Lori- http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/
I sure hope you all will join in and quilt along with us!
Linking up with Em’s Scrap Bag , Cooking Up Quilts
And I did actual sewing and finished this one! This will also go to Happy Chemo.
