Antique Medallion Gets a Turn in the Hoop

Today is a lazy day.  The kids are all home except of course for our oldest who is attending a tech school in Oklahoma.  I miss that kid so much it's crazy and I still set the table for him sometimes without thinking.  We can't get him home for Thanksgiving, but we've already got his ticket home for the 3-week Christmas break!!  That ought to be just enough time for him to drive me insane with all his empty food dishes piling up in the bedroom.  lol  High school basketball practice starts today and it seems like we've barely finished up with Cross country track! Our oldest daughter placed 3rd in Districts and Regionals both, but then had a bad day at state.  We couldn't be more proud of her though because she did all the training by herself--no coach at all--since she was the only kid interested in cross country in the entire high school!  Seriously dedicated girl when she decides to do something!  

Newest Quilt in the hoop!

I can't stand having an empty quilt hoop during this time of the year, so I managed to take over the floor long enough to get this particular quilt sandwiched and pinned.  Next in line, it's been finished up since about 2008.  The name of the pattern is 'Antique Medallion' pattern by Cheri Ralston out of a Red Wagon Quilts book.  I think it's Red Wagon?  The book was on loan from one of my sisters at the time.  Plus, I changed the center out and replaced it with a pattern I found in American Patchwork and Quilting April 2001 magazine.  The Antique Medallion pattern also called for more applique between the green and the lighter black border which I eliminated.  With all of the floral stuff going on, more applique just seemed like overkill.

I'm still in love with the center of this quilt.....

The original pattern had a darker, more subdued look and for once I decided to brighten things up a bit!  The red florals, polka dot & the cream fabric were bought with a completely different pattern in mind--the one and only time I bought ALL of the fabric for an entire quilt all together, in a single quilt shop.  Then, for some reason, I couldn't make myself start the quilt and the longer I looked at my selection of fabrics, the worse it looked to me.  In the end, I peeled off a couple of fabrics and started in with a wall hanging (the centerpiece to this quilt).

Naturally, being me, I thought it would look fabulous if I tried to incorporate it into a bed-size quilt.  After much contemplation and perusal of various quilt patterns, I settled on the Antique Medallion pattern as my template.  Honestly, I had trouble figuring out the pattern (not an unusual occurrence with me) and somehow ended up with the sawtooth stars being too large to fit precisely into the lay-out.  Grrrr....  I made a major design decision and whacked off all of the points, then quickly sewed the next border on.  Turns out, it's one of the things I like best about this quilt!  The slightly chunky looking stars add in character and an unexpected 'prim' look to what could have been a very formal looking quilt.  Well, if it would have been made by someone else.*wink