Hurrah, the longarm machine is all set up in our new home! That’s a very good thing because I have customer quilts to quilt. The spring tends to be a busy time of year in the quilting studio. Must be the new year push to reorganize, tidy up and finish things. I’m happy to help!

Today’s studio update focuses on medallion-style quilts. Often, these quilts really benefit from custom quilting, which can emphasize and complement the layers of borders. I hope you enjoy the longarm quilting on these medallion quilts.

Medaillon quilt by Anita van der Es

This beautiful medallion quilt in soft, traditional colors is from a pattern by Anne Claudine Tuller. Quilt-maker Anita van der Es wondered if I suggested edge-to-edge or custom quilting. I answered with an enthusiastic custom quilting recommendation!

Once the quilt arrived in my studio, I created two digital mockups to demonstrate different quilting ideas. I prefer to do this planning work with the quilt in person, as I will take cues from the prints and from the scale of the individual blocks.

I always design from the center of a medallion quilt, moving outward. Anita preferred the center motif in the left mockup and the feathery motifs over flowers. Thus I dropped all of the ideas in the right mockup.

Anita also shared that she wasn’t pleased with any of the options I proposed for quilting over the spool blocks. That is the first border that surrounds the center motif. It was helpful to hear that she did not want to emphasize the spools and that she preferred to avoid angular designs.

With Anita’s feedback on the initial quilting mockups, I got started with quilting in pale brown thread. I used an elegant looping design over the spool blocks, which gives a visual break from all the feathers, but doesn’t emphasize the blocks themselves.

Anita really loved the little arching feathers in the negative space blocks above the diamonds. I think they offer a pleasing change in quilting scale.

Since she loves feather quilting, I finished the outer borders of the quilt with rolling feathers. Here is the complete, finished design in an image capture from my longarm quilting computer screen.

Piece of Cake by Madelon @Maddie_Sews

My next medallion quilt experience was also a custom quilting job. I follow Maddie on Instagram and was excited to be asked to quilt for her!

Here is Maddie’s photo of her finished quilt. The pattern is Strafford Manor by Judy Newman.

Madelon had some quilting ideas from the start. She wanted to see clamshells integrated into the design and preferred soft, more organic patterns to an angular look. This is the mockup I created, showing several options for the central motif.

Just as with design, quilting starts at the center and works out to the edges. I love that the central quilting motif is large scale, compared to the rest. It emphasizes the center and is soft to the touch.

My suggestion to densely quilt the on-point squares was well-received by Madelon. The dense quilting creates definition between the quilt rounds, and this particular design compliments the blocks nicely.

The final quilt border has bold, large-scale triangles. At first I was stumped on how to quilt them. Some online browsing for new quilting designs led to this triangular feathery motif.

Which I LOVE!

A year ago I hadn’t hardly ever (maybe never) quilted feathers, but now I am a fan. It seems to me they suit both modern and traditional quilts, and especially a quilt like Piece of Cake that uses modern fabrics and colors in a traditional patchwork style.

Mystery Quilt by Margaret B.

Here’s another special quilt, not truly medallion in construction, but with a strong center like the others. The pattern was shared online by Laundry Basket Quilts last year as a mystery quilt experience.

The patchwork design really intrigues me. The quilt is built in a block grid, but the patchwork feels interlocking and dynamic. So clever!

Margaret chose edge-to-edge quilting. My suggestion was Cotton Seed, a motif with a soft, natural shape. It’s quilted in a cream thread with medium density.

I’m glad to report that Margaret is pleased. She is one of my faithful UK customers and was brave enough to be my first post-Brexit order. Happily things went well with shipping between us. Fingers crossed that continues to be the case, so that I can continue offering quilting services to you lovely folks in the United Kingdom.

Would you like help finishing your project? New orders can be quilted later this month. Please be in touch if you have any questions or start the process off by placing your order. I can’t wait to see YOUR quilt!