Tuesday, May 21, 2013

an oakshott medallion {un rubis pour moi!}

After much anticipation, these lovelies showed up in last week's mail.  (For all you statesiders searching for a U.S. distributor, I *highly* recommend pinwheels, by the way.  Limited selection but excellent service!)


For a moment, all I could do was stare at the little stack in all its glory.  Before they arrived, I'd seen plenty of these fabrics on my computer screen (I'm a loyalalbeit unsuccessfulproposer for Lily's Quilts monthly "Made with Oakshott" challenge; besides that, this, this, this, and this have been particularly enticing).  

But in person, they really are... well, something else entirely ;)


So, what to do with these radiant ruby reds?  Quilt a little jewelry for myself, of course ;)

Now normally when I paper piece, I'm incredibly generous with seam allowances because, let's be real, seam ripping doesn't exactly do wonders when you're trying to work at a quick clip.  But with these luscious shot cottons, there is no flipping way I am going to cut willy nilly in any sort of a hurry.  On the plus side, it means I will {finally} be able to give a more accurate estimate for how much fabric one 20" gemstone requires ;)

Aside from the center stone, I'm thinking this is prime "medallion" material.  So far I've jotted down an array of possible border ideas.  The running list includes:

*equilateral triangles
*HSTs
*spikes
*flying geese
*teeny tiny stars } clearly this isn't a rush job ;)  ...yet.
*squares/rectangles
*marcelle pluses
*Play Crafts broken herringbone design
*Sew What Sherlock? arrows
*pretty much any of these {omigah}
*AMH feathers (these have been on my wish list since they were featured in quilty last winter, but I still might hold out to create a quilt inspired by this design)
*and maybe (maybe!) some applique (à la tile quilts or anything material obsession)

Any other border suggestions out there?!  The jury is still out on whether to limit the borders to oakshott + neutrals (solids or prints?), or throw in some ruby-hued prints (or just solids? or both?) from my stash.  I'm thinking a mix of prints with oakshotts sprinkled throughout would be fun (and would help stretch the itty bitty stack to a cozy-sized quilt!)

Decisions, decisions, decisions...  I'd love your advice on borders, solids, prints and the whole lot ;)

14 comments:

  1. I think flying geese or feathers would be awesome! I've done the feathers before and they are fabulous (just be careful about wasting fabric when you piece all the strips together)!

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  2. No advise but I'm looking forward to see this once it's done. It'll be absolute gem.

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  3. My vote is for the arrows of course! ;)

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  4. Although I myself have been thinking about doing a medallion so I couldn't fault you. But of course I'll be paper piecing the center and adding an arrow border :D And the AMH feathers are so awesome I wish I'd designed them myself. But then, I expect we all wish that about everything she does. ;)

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  5. I'm excited to see what you'll do! :)

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  6. So gorgeous! I'm a little overwhelmed at the multitude of options but am definitely looking forward to seeing what you end up with :)

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  7. I'm totally in love with the Medallion quilts but they kind of scare me! No matter what you make with those it will be gorgeous, those fabrics are awesome.

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  8. I can't wait to see the jewel medallion!

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  9. Ooh beautiful fabrics! They will be gorgeous for a gemstone Medallion quilt! No suggestions on the border - I think any of those would be lovely!

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  10. Those fabrics are luscious! Looking forward to your creation :)

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  11. Okay, i've had this page open for two days. I keep coming back to it and clicking all the links to try and help with a plan for you. i got nuthin'. I love the idea of stars... but i'm a sucker for stars, I also like the spikes, i think they would go nicely with the gemstone. And i'm all for stretching it out, i think it would look great with a mix of prints and solids!

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  12. Oooh, I'm looking forward to see what you'll turn these precious gems into. I've loved them for a long time, too.

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  13. Sounds like a great use for those fabrics - good luck on picking the borders - if you use them all you'll be making this quilt forever!

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