Aviatrix Medallion: Student Quilts

During the last half of last year, I taught the Aviatrix Medallion pattern (by Elizabeth Hartman) at Frangipani Fabrics. We ended up running two classes (a morning and afternoon session) as we had a huge amount of interest in this class. It's the second time I've taught a medallion quilt (I taught the Marcelle Medallion in 2013 and 2014), and they make such great classes. Medallion quilts are the absolute best training ground in terms of learning precision, and they are a great way to learn about colour. 

I taught the Aviatrix over 7 classes, with lots of homework time in between. I've gotten to know most of my students really, really well over the last three years of teaching (many of my students have done several of my classes), so it honestly doesn't feel like work. I try to create a relaxed and encouraging class environment - so although everyone learns lots, it is also a really lovely social experience. And as a teacher, it is just amazing seeing everyone's quilts grow and evolve over time. I'll be teaching the Aviatrix again this year (kicking off in May if any local quilters are keen to join us this year!) - and although I don't share my students work here very often, I am so proud of what these ladies achieved with these quilts. It's also a great way to showcase how different this pattern can look depending on colour choice. This isn't the whole set of my student quilts, but we have had a number of them hanging at Frangipani Fabrics over the last few weeks so I'm sharing the ones I had a chance to photograph. These quilts are so big we had to fold in the sides to fit them all on the shop walls, which is why you can't see the final borders all the way around. 

First up is Deb's gorgeous version. Deb based her colour choices on Joel Dewberry's Bungalow collection, and it such an elegant, beautiful quilt. 

Next is Margaret's quilt. I love this version - it is so striking, and the colours are so Margaret.

I love Lauren's version too - I'm still not sure how she kept track of the 20 different blue solids she used in this one! The addition of yellow and ochre prints as accents was such a great idea, it really is a spectacular quilt.

Bernadette's version is just so pretty - and again, reflects the maker so well. Beautiful, beautiful!

 And finally, Helen's version. Helen used a fat quarter bundle of Moonshine by Tula Pink for her quilt, and it has worked beautifully.

I've had some lovely feedback from my students since we wrapped up this class last year. The overwhelming comments have been how much they learnt about precision and getting points to match, and how proud they are of what they achieved. I'm pretty excited to get to do it all again this year :o)

xx Jess

Aviatrix Medallion {Finished at last!!}

A few days ago, I finally finished sewing the binding down on my Aviatrix Medallion, so this epically epic quilt is finally (almost!) finished! Aviatrix has been roughly a year in the making, so I hope you're not sick of seeing it quite yet (I know I've been sharing it quite frequently over the course of piecing and quilting it!). I still have a lot of thread burying to do, but it is essentially finished - so this is the last time you'll have to see it ;o). 

I made this quilt as a class sample for the class I taught at Frangipani Fabrics last year (and will be teaching again this year), and all the fabrics in the quilt are from Frangipani. The Aviatrix Medallion pattern is designed by Elizabeth Hartman, and I stuck pretty closely to her original palette, but I've used print fabrics rather than solids as in the pattern. I really do prefer working with prints, especially prints that have a dominant colour, and I think they work perfectly in this quilt. It gives the blocks a bit more sparkle than with solids, I think.

This is a pretty time consuming quilt to piece - although the centre is the only really difficult part to put together. Having said that, the way I chose to quilt it made it a truly epic quilt to make. I haven't timed it at all, but I reckon I spent close to 150 hours quilting this one. And I am really proud of what I achieved with it. I tried really hard to be original in my quilting choices, and to add lots of texture without taking away from the piecing design too much. I think I've achieved my aims - I know this much detailed quilting isn't to everyone's taste, but I adore how it's finished up!

I used a wool/poly batting for the first time on this quilt - and I'm hooked. It gives the quilting a bit more puff than 100% wool batting, and it has a lovely drape despite all that quilting. I figure if I am going to spend all that time quilting, it might as well be noticeable ;o). 

Having looked through these photos, I've decided I will go back and add some more quilting to the log cabins that haven't been quilted in the coloured sections. In the photo below, you can see I've quilted a cross hatch pattern in the yellow log cabin - I'm going to go back and add bits of quilting like that at some stage soon.

 The back of this quilt is simply pieced, with a Cotton and Steel voile down the centre and a dark pink solid on either side. The voile held up amazingly well with all the quilting on this quilt - and having such a light weight fabric on the back means it drapes amazingly well. Not only that, it feels delightful!

As always, I matched my bobbin thread to the top thread, so the quilting on the solid pink is really visible, especially where I've quilted over the same place a few times. I somehow managed to keep the back straight relative to the front too - not something that always happens when I piece backs! The binding is partly pieced using the left overs from the top, and partly neutral fabric that blends in with the final border.

All the quilting was done with Aurifil threads - Dove grey 50wt for all the background and grey areas, and the four colours you can see below for the coloured sections. I love that you can see the quilting on some of the coloured sections, but blends into others. Changing thread colours wasn't something I originally planned for this quilt, but I'm glad I did. Although it means a lot of threads to bury, I think with this much quilting it needs to blend fairly well, or it would completely dominate the piecing.

This quilt was on my Finish Along Quarter One list, so I'm especially pleased to get one finish in this quarter. I've had so many lovely comments during the making of this quilt, thank you so much for your encouragement! I'm incredibly happy with how it's turned out, although I'm looking forward to making a couple of simple quilts before launching into my next epic quilt ;o)

xx Jess

Aviatrix Medallion - Log Cabin Quilting

Our kids started back at school today (new school for my youngest two, and they both had an awesome day which is a real relief!), and I didn't have to work. Naturally I grabbed the chance to have a day in the 'studio' aka garage. I made some pretty good progress on my Aviatrix quilting - the log cabin border is so close to being finished! 

At this stage, I've mostly quilted the white parts using Aurifil 50wt in Dove (the same thread I've used in all the white and neutral areas of the quilt). I'm debating whether to go back and do a bit more quilting with coloured thread in the coloured logs. I quite like how puffy they are, but considering how densely quilted the centre part of the quilt is, I'm a bit worried these blocks look too sparsely quilted in comparison.

I don't think I'll make a decision until I've quilted the butterflies. It might be good to have one less densely quilted border. I don't know! I must admit it's getting more challenging to keep this quilt square as I move out toward the last borders. I'm being super careful about ditch stitching each block as I move around each border, and I'm fairly confident I'll be able to quilt it into submission. I think there'll be some serious blocking going on once it's all done though!

 Now that I've got a bit of daytime, kid-free sewing time again, I'm hoping I'll knock over the rest of the quilting on this over the next week or so.

I hope you're all having a great week!

xx Jess

The adventure continues

The last week has been a wee bit manic in terms of sewing. I've been working on four different quilts (two new quilts, my Aviatrix and a very long term WIP) as well as starting to prep for the Farmer's Wife Sew Along. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again - I love working like this, and flitting between different projects!

I haven't done all that much more quilting on my Aviatrix this week, but I'm so excited about how it's coming together you're going to have to look at it again ;o) I've finally finished quilting the x plus blocks - and I just love that border. It took a long time to do (I think about 15 hours give or take), but the effect of those geese was totally worth it. I'm so glad I decided to alternate the direction - I think it adds a bit of subtle movement.

I didn't quilt the second solid border (the one just before the x plus blocks) until today. I asked what people thought would work on Instagram yesterday, and some amazing ideas thrown at me. Krista (who I was lucky enough to do a class with at Quiltcon, and who inspired the quilted geese) suggested an orange peel quilting design in the border as a nod to traditional medallion quilting. When Krista suggests something, you kind of can't say no (and I think it is a genius idea) - but the thought of doing orange peels in a 1" border didn't excite me all that much - plus I think I'd have to mark to pull it off, and I'm not a marker if I have the choice! Since the border beyond the x plus blocks had me stumped, though, I thought orange peels would be perfect there. The overwhelming response (and my instinctive choice) to that first border was pebbles again. So that's what I did :o)

 Because the neutral border is pieced squares, I used those as the grid for the orange peels, and didn't have to mark. I call that a huge win :o) I'm in the process of going back and quilting straight lines between the orange peels and the x plus block - and may continue this on the other side of the orange peels, I haven't quite decided.

The long term WIP I've been working on is my Colour Block quilt made with Tula Pink's Birds and the Bees fabric, using Tula's free pattern she released when SaltWater came out. I pieced this quilt top about 2 1/2 years ago and I'm currently hand stitching the binding down, so I'm pretty excited that I'll be using it soon!

This is the biggest quilt I have ever made (about 85" x 96") and one of my favorites. The texture of the organic free motion quilted straight lines is just gorgeous - I'm looking forward to washing it (something I don't normally do straight away) and see what it feels like. I'm hoping it'll be done later this week so once I manage to get photos I'll do a proper post.

I hope you're all having a great week! I'm off to keep hand stitching binding...

xx Jess

Quilty Fun!

So I've been sewing like a mad woman over the last week or so, and I have a few things to share today! First up, my Aviatrix medallion is completely pieced! I really struggled to get the full quilt in a photo (no helpers available, so I perched on a ladder), but you get the idea ;o) 

I ended up using my sidekick ruler and hexnmore rulers to cut the butterfly border, which made it super quick to cut. The did take a while to piece (simply because there are so many of them!), but it was well worth the effort. I absolutely adore this quilt - and it's basted and ready to start quilting really soon! I just have some horrifically overdue bee blocks to make, and then I'll be quilting this beast. The outer borders are a wee bit full, but I'm hoping some clever quilting choices will flatten it out (no idea what those clever choices are by the way - but I'm all ears if anyone has ideas!!) 

Before I get onto my bee blocks, I needed to whip up a class sample for a Graffiti quilting class I'll be teaching at Frangipani Fabrics in a few months. I spent most of today working on this - and it was SO much fun. I'll be unpicking some of the really dense stitching (I guess you could call it thread painting) in the centre (which might take a few hours I reckon!) but other than that I am so happy with how it's coming together. I've always been a bit scared of using thread that doesn't blend - but this quilt is making me change my mind. It's the first true whole cloth quilt I've done, and I'm pretty sure there'll be more. I haven't enjoyed quilting this much ever!

It's a bit hard to tell in these photos, but I'm changing thread colour as I move out from the circle (which I did mark - only that though, the rest is free hand). I'm using a range of Aurifil threads - some 50wt, some 40wt - and aiming for a rainbow effect. Some of the designs I'm using are based on Karlee Porter's Graffiti quilting book, but as I grow more confident with it, I'm trying to make it more 'me' than Karlee ;o)

These photos are all a bit sub-par (as usual, night time quilting and too impatient to wait till tomorrow for good light!!) - but I promise I'll get some better ones when I've finished quilting this one. It is kind of addictive doing this kind of quilting - so I'll more than likely have this finished by the end of the week!

I hope you're all having a great week! 

xx Jess

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday :o)

Aviatrix Again!

Since playing with my Checker blocks last week, I've been working pretty frantically on my Aviatrix medallion. Last time I shared it, I'd only added the x plus blocks:

But last week, the teeny neutral squares went on (and I have to say I adore this neutral border. It breaks up all the colour so perfectly, and it was nice to have a really quick and simple border after those x plus blocks!!) I sewed these on during the day, and I think this is the only day-time photo I've managed to get of this quilt so far. I'm usually too impatient to wait to take pictures the next day in daylight ;o)

Since then, I've been steadily working on piecing the log cabin border. Although they are really simple to put together, they did take a fair while to make - an hour or two each night over the last week. Seeing them all together like this makes me want to make a log cabin quilt soon - yet another border in this quilt that could happily be a quilt top. I have always loved log cabin blocks, but the wide coloured strips combined with the thinner white strips and alternating placement in these is particularly effective, I think! 

I finished sewing them into borders and attached them to the centre of the quilt top tonight - and I'm way to impatient to wait to tomorrow to share it. I am SO in love with this quilt top! It's getting really big now (around 70" square I think?) so it meant balancing on books on top of a table to take this photo (which is why it isn't quite straight-on and kind of looks like the cat took it). The colours in this photo aren't great (again, impatient to share!), but you get the idea. It's just such a happy quilt, and it makes me so happy when I'm working on it! 

I've been procrastinating over the butterfly border since I started this quilt - but I'm so excited about quilting it I think I'll get them done as soon as I can. I do have a bit of time pressure to get them done too - I'll be teaching this quilt starting this weekend, so it would be good if I've finished the quilt top before my students get to the final border ;o) I'm so looking forward to teaching this quilt - and we have split the class into two because it got so big! It is going to be amazing seeing 16 different versions of this quilt being created!

Since it's still Wednesday (just!), and this is a WIP, I'm linking up with Lee (for the first time in a loooong time). 

I hope you're all having a fabulous week!

xx Jess

The Aviatrix Grows

Since coming home from the show/fair last weekend, I've had an enormous amount of sewing energy. It's really nice - I think it's the first time since the end of last year that I've really felt that obsessive need to sew (or is that just me?) that normally drives me. It helps that I've been working on a project that I really love, I guess - my Aviatrix medallion.

I have been working on the blocks for the next border very slowly over the last few months (in between other projects), so they feel like they've taken forever. They are fun blocks to make though - and seeing these together made me think I'd like to make an x plus quilt at some stage. I am in desperate need of whittling down my enormous scrap box, and I although I struggle with true scrappy quilts, I think I'd like to make something a bit more controlled like this. Maybe...

Once they were sewn, it was pretty quick to piece them together and sew them to the centre of the quilt - and it grew really big really quickly! It's around 50" square already, but there are only two more complex pieced borders to go, so I don't think it'll take too much longer to finish at the rate I've been sewing this week ;o)

As I said in my first post about this quilt, I'm using the same colour scheme as Elizabeth Hartman has in the pattern, but I'm using prints instead of solids (except for the white background). I'm starting to get really excited about quilting this quilt - there are so many interesting shapes in the piecing which is going to make it loads of fun to quilt!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

xx Jess

The Aviatrix Begins

It's funny how the best of intentions can be easily thwarted. I had planned on photographing and sharing several quilts last week, but we have had nearly constant rain so quilt photography has been a bit difficult ;o) I did manage to scoot outside today and snap a few, so there will be finishes revealed in the near(ish) future, but today I'm just sharing a couple of works in progress I have on the go.

I have an upcoming class teaching the Aviatrix Medallion by Elizabeth Hartman, so I started making my class sample last week. I've had the fabric for this quilt set aside since the end of last year, when I chose all the fabric at Frangipani Fabrics (where I'll be teaching the class). I decided to use the same colour scheme as the pattern, but I'm using print fabrics where Elizabeth used all solids. It was pretty easy to match prints using the colour chart in the pattern, and it is making it a breeze to make this quilt, at least in terms of colour placement. I think I'd approach this quilt very differently if I was making it from stash and challenge myself more in terms of colour palette, but I must admit it is nice to not have to think so much about those things!

I'm not going to lie - that centre block was a pain in the butt. There was quite a lot of unpicking (and swearing) involved, and it still isn't perfect, but I think it looks okay (and to be honest, I'm being very picky here - there are a few points in the blue bird that are quite dodgy, but overall it isn't bad). And once the first border went on, I decided I could live with it ;o)

And now the second and third borders are on, I'm most definitely in love with it. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week, and all this colour just makes me happy :o) It is such a pleasure to work on this quilt!

The other project I'm working on has been a slow-sewing project since I came back from QuiltCon. The orange peels are all needle turn appliqued, and I finally sewed it all together last week. I want to quilt it soon - but I'm completely stumped as to what to do. Normally by this stage I would've had a flash of inspiration but this time around it just isn't happening. I think I'd like to emphasise the fading out and decreasing size of the 'flowers' with the quilting, but I can't decide the best way to do it. Any and all ideas would be gratefully appreciated :o)

I hope you're all having a great week! I found out this morning that two of my quilts have been accepted into Modern Quilt Show Australia at the end of May (woohoo!!) so I'll be burying threads and sewing hanging sleeves for the next few evening I think. 

xx Jess