December is coming to a close. It has been a delightful year sharing all kinds of wonderful projects with you. I also want you to know I have decided to focus on being a designer for Island Batik, so I will be taking a little sabbatical as an Ambassador. There is a wonderful new group of Ambassadors which are eager to inspire you with their talent in 2021. Watch for the post from Island Batik on Monday, January 4th.
The Challenge – A Medallion Quilt
Our challenge was to design a medallion style quilt. I am posting mine on the last day of the year for a reason. As we all know we all have the same amount of time given to us. Time is one of those commodities to make choices on how we want to use it. Time is of the present. The quilt I designed for you is a modern representation of a circle of time inside the walls of the present. I know there will be more time outside those walls but for know I need to focus on the present. I can still dream about the time in the future but I will always be pulled back to the middle to find the balance I need to have a creative and happy life.
Choices – Selection of Fabrics
I used fabrics from the Island Batik William’s Garden Signature Collection for Studio 180 Designs and for my background Egg White from the foundation batiks.
William’s Garden 
William’s Carden 
William’s Garden 
William’s Garden 
Lavender – Foundation Batik 
Egg White – Foundation Batik 
William’s Garden 
William’s Garden
The Design
Time Square was designed in EQ 8. The quilt finishes to 40″ x 40″
The quilt consists of half square triangles, 4-patch blocks, and a block called Grist Mill.
HST and 4 Patch Blocks 
Grist Mill Block
The Grist Mill Block
The Grist Mill block is made using 2 squares, one green and one purple, plus a half square triangle unit.
The top square is marked with a chalk pencil. The square are placed right sides together and sewn on the marked lines as shown below. I have indicated the sewn lines with a light blue thread.
The block is cut apart to create 4 Quarter Square Triangles (QST). They are cut apart on the diagonal, in the middle of the marked chalked lines.
Then the QSTs are sewn to a HST unit to produce a half square triangle combination unit. These units were squared up to a perfect 4 1/2″ unfinished block using the Tucker Trimmer by Studio 180 Designs. The four combination units were sewn together to make the block you see below.
Next, melon shaped applique units were made. I like to use Ricky Tims Stable Stuff in my applique. It is a wonderful product for doing turned edge applique. It is a nice stabilizer and creates a nice crisp edge for turned edge applique. I drew a line in the middle of the melon and placed on the wrong side along the seam line of the fabric. I used a little glue to hold them in place. The melon shapes are cut out leaving about a 1/4″ seam allowance for turning under. I used a Quilters Select glue stick to turn and glue down the raw edges.
The melon shapes are then appliqued to the 4 combination HST blocks.
Appliquéing of the melon shapes
I used 80wt. Aurifil white thread in the top and 50wt. Auriful white thread in the bobbin for appliqueing the melon shapes.
I set my Bernina 790 to a single blanket stitch, #1329, with a 1.0 width and a 2.5 length. I have my needle in the down position and tightened my bobbin tension to a 2.75 setting.
I am using an open toe foot and moved my needle position all the way over to the right. I used a Schmetz Chrome Microtex 70/10 needle to get a close stitch to the applique. This needle has a very thin, accurate point which makes the stitching virtually invisible.
Assembling and Finishing
The blocks are arranged and sewn together in rows. The rows are then sewn together. It is important to pin the intersections of the blocks to create a nice continuous line. As you will notice some wonderful secondary designs are created in the quilt when the blocks are joined together.
The quilt is quilted with 50wt. Glide thread by Fil-tec. Heirloom® Premium 80/20 Cotton/Poly Blend was my batting of choice. I used the crib size (45″×60″), since this is a wall hanging.
All ready for the New Year
Time Square is finished and ready to enjoy in the new year. I wish all of you a wonderful new year. Even though I am taking a break from being an Island Batik Ambassador I will still be sharing with you new Island Batik fabric collections as an Island Batik Designer.
Happy Quilting!!
Thank you so much Carol for so many lessons I learnt from you through 2020, and especially to days block with the applqiue mellons, what a great shape they make on those HST Sorry you are leaving but do know know how many days it has taken each week out of your own creativity. WIshing you all the very best for 2021. Cheers Glenda
What a beautiful finish for the year, and as Ambassador for now. I’m looking forward to seeing your designs.