Medallion Squared - Free Quilt Block and Tutorial

 

Hi everyone! And welcome to my stop on the Cloud9 New Block Blog Hop tour of 2016!!

After having such a great time participating in my first blog hop – the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop – I jumped at the chance to participate in the second hop organized by the lovely Yvonne from Quilting Jet Girl, Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie from Late Night Quilter!

I really do love how thoughtful and caring our community is and this project is a great example of that. Each participant committed to designing a new quilt block pattern featuring Cloud9 Fabrics' Cirrus Solids that would be sewn together into quilts to be donated to a charity. We get to challenge our design skills and play with gorgeous fabric, a charity benefits from handmade quilts and you get lots of free quilt block patterns!! It’s a win-win-win and I just love when that happens!

I’m super excited to share my Medallion Squared block tutorial with you all!

And please don’t be mad at me if you don’t like paper piecing! I promise it comes together really quickly and helps you get super sharp points! I’ll walk you through this for ultimate success 😀

Some tips before getting started:

• Make sure you are printing the template as is. You shouldn’t have to mess with your printer settings, just print as she is without scaling anything.
• I’ve heard a light box is a highly practical tool for paper piecing, but I don’t have one, so I usually hold my pattern up to a light or window (depending on the time of day!) when laying out my fabric pieces.
• Remember, you are attaching the fabric on the wrong side of the template, but you are sewing on the right side of the template. The pictures below will help!
• Cut your pieces on the larger size. There is nothing worse than getting half-way through your pattern piece only to realize one of your fabrics isn’t large enough to cover the entire area plus the seam allowance. Don’t forget about the seam allowance!!  I’ve been quite generous with the cutting dimensions to give you wiggle room.
• A glue stick comes in handy for holding that first piece of fabric in place if you find it’s slipping around on you.
• A piece of card stock or, in my case, a magazine subscription insert works like a charm to get crisp paper folds.
• Drop your stitch length to 1.5, this will make tearing off the paper easier once the block is done.
• Back stitch at the start and end of each line. This will help prevent any seams from opening when you tear off the paper. But it makes seam ripping really tough if you make a mistake, so your call on this one!
• Make sure your fabric is laying flat on the under side of the paper when you start stitching. Nothing worse than flipping your paper over and seeing a fold in your fabric.

Materials you will need for this project include:

• 4 copies of  each paper piecing templates A and B (sign up here to get the pattern)
• 4 Cloud9 Cirrus Solids fat quarters in the colours Iris, Lilac, Shadow and Sky
• A glue stick (optional, but recommended)
• Pins
• Rotary cutter & mat
• Sewing machine and thread
• Cardstock or magazine insert (optional, but recommended)
• Ruler
• Iron

OK, here we go with the fun stuff!

The first step in paper piecing is to print out the templates. Remember my tip to ensure you don’t change the zoom factor, it should be at the correct size without having to fuss with anything.  You will need four copies of each template.

Next is to prepare your fabric. I always start by squaring up my fabric and then cutting strips. I find I waste less fabric and it sets me up for dealing with scraps later on. Here are the pieces you will need to cut for each colour of fabric:

Colour 1 – Lilac

• A1 – cut 4 rectangles 4” x 5”
• A2 – cut 4 squares 3” x 3”
• B1 – cut 4 squares 5” x 5”

Colour 2 – Iris (magenta)

• A2 – cut 4 squares 3” x 3”
• Borders – cut 2 rectangles 10” x 1 ¾”
• Borders – cut 2 rectangles 12 ½” x 1 ¾”

Colour 3 – Shadow (gray)

• A4 – cut 4 rectangles 4” x 8 ½”

Colour 4 – Sky (light blue)

• B2 – cut 4 rectangles 4” x 5”

Note - I’ve made the pieces a little larger to give you extra wiggle room for placement. If you are more experienced with paper piecing, then by all means go free form and cut your pieces to the sizes that suit you best.

Now that you have your fabric all prepped, let’s get sewing!

I like to start by gluing all of my #1 pieces in place. This helps keep the fabric from shifting around while I get ready to move onto section #2. Since we have 2 templates repeated 4 times, I like to attach everything in order by #. So all 2’s get done on all the separate paper piecing patterns. Then I move onto 3 and so on. In this case, template B only has B1 and B2, so it’s done before you know it! But it’s a good habit to get into if you are working with more complex paper piecing patterns (I’m looking at you Blue Dragon!).

Starting with template A, find A1. Place a dab of glue in the center of the triangle on the wrong side of the paper. Repeat this step for all A1s and same for all B1s. Make sure that your fabric covers the entire area, including a ¼” seam allowance.

Flip the paper over, line up your cardstock along the line joining A1 to A2. Fold the paper template back exactly along that line, using the cardstock to get a nice crisp line.

 

Line up your ruler, leaving a ¼” seam allowance of fabric beyond the folded line and trim the excess fabric.

Line up A2 fabric with your newly cut A1 fabric, ensuring your A2 shape is fully covered by the fabric. Pin in place.

Using a 1.5 stitch length, sew along the line between A1 and A2. Repeat on remaining 3 A templates.

Use the same technique as above for template B.

Once stitched in place, set your seams and iron back the fabric.

Now for A3. Fold the paper back along the line between A2 and A3. Trim excess fabric leaving a ¼” seam allowance. Line up A3 fabric and pin in place. Stitch along the line between A2 and A3. Set your seam and iron back. Repeat again for A4.

Once all your fabric has been sewn into place, we need to trim the templates down. Make sure you are trimming along the dotted lines and not the solid line. This ensures you have a ¼” seam allowance when we piece the templates together.

 

Amazing how clean and crisp the pieces look once trimmed up!

Now to join the pieces together. Whew, we’re almost there!!

I like to line up my pieces to ensure I am attaching them correctly. You want the central coloured triangle tips to be touching. Then flip it over and line up the edges. Stitch in place sewing along the solid line. Set your seams and iron your seams open. This will help reduce bulk once all of your pieces are joined together.

At this point you have 4 segments and your block is starting to take shape :)

Each segment is the same, but you want to ensure that A4 is on the left hand side when facing you. Keep rotating the block so that they line up as in the picture above. Join two quarters together again sewing along the solid line. Set your seams and iron open.

Now join the two halves together. A quick tip here is to line up your center seams first. This will help ensure your pieces line up as perfectly as possible.

Note – I sometimes sew down the solid line, flip the pieces over and sew again down the same solid line on the opposite side. This is helpful if anything shifted slightly. Definitely not necessary, but I found I got better points when I used this method. Set your seams one final time and iron open. Flip your block over and top iron to ensure everything is nice and smooth. Leave the paper in place for the time being.

Now for the borders!

Attach the 10” x 1 ¾” borders to two opposite sides. Set your seams and iron back towards the border fabric.

Attach the 12 ½” x 1 ¾” borders to the remaining sides, set your seams and iron back towards the border fabric. Give it a good pressing from the top and voila! Your block is done :) Well, almost.

Now’s the time to flip your block over and start tearing away the paper. Take your time and don’t be too rough. You don’t want to bust any seams open!

Give your block one final all over pressing and you are officially done! There – that wasn’t so hard! If this was your first time paper piecing, I promise it gets easier every time. Before you know it, paper piecing will be second nature and a really fun technique to have in your repertoire.

Here is a mock-up of a quilt top featuring the Medallion Squared block:

And again without any borders added:

I would love to see your finished Medallion Squared block! Tag me on Instagram @shannonfraserdesigns and use #medallionsquaredblock or send me an email to sfdesigns@outlook.com with a photo and link to your blog post so I can see your creation!!

There are lots of talented quilters participating in this blog hop, including:

Day 1 - Hosted by Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl

Abigail @Cut & Alter
Janice @Color, Creating, and Quilting!
Lorinda @Laurel, Poppy, and Pine
Melva @Melva Loves Scraps
Renee @Quilts of a Feather
Kathryn @Upitis Quilts
Kim @Leland Ave Studios
Amanda @this mom quilts
Holly @Lighthouse Lane Designs
Irene @Patchwork and Pastry
Jennifer @Dizzy Quilter
Karen @Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Anne @Said With Love
Suzy @Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Sharla @Thistle Thicket Studio
Kathleen @Smiles From Kate
Amanda @Gypsy Moon Quilt Co.
Sarah @Sarah Goer Quilts
Chelsea @Patch the Giraffe
Jinger @Trials of a Newbie Quilter
Anja @Anja Quilts
Daisy @Ants to Sugar

Day 2 - Hosted by Cheryl @MeadowMistDesigns

Miranda @I Have Purple Hair

Jennifer @The Inquiring Quilter
Sarah @123 Quilt
Leanne @Devoted Quilter
Jen @Patterns By Jen
Jennifer @RV Quilting
Amanda @Quiltologie
Sharon @Yellow Cat Quilt Designs
Jen @A Dream and A Stitch
Jen @Faith and Fabric
Carole @Carole Lyles Shaw
Stephanie @Quilt’n Party
Susan @Sevenoaks Street Quilts
Katrin @Now What Puppilalla
Amista @Hilltop Custom Designs
Nicole @Handwrought Quilts
Marla @Penny Lane Quilts
Silvia @A Stranger View
Sarah @Smiles Too Loudly
Carrie @the zen quilter
Mary @Quilting is in My Blood
Velda @GRANNYcanQUILT

Day 3 - Hosted by Stephanie @Late Night Quilter 

Kathy @Kathys Kwilts and More

Paige @Quilted Blooms
Mary @Strip Quilts Pass it On
Allison @Woodberry Way
Seven @The Concerned Craft
Olusola @Alice Samuel’s Quilt Co.
Ann @Brown Paws Quilting
Jodie @Persimmon + Pear
Vicki @Orchid Owl Quilts
Kitty @Night Quilter
Francine @Mocha Wild Child
Shelley @The Carpenter’s Daughter who Quilts
Jayne @Twiggy and Opal
Geraldine @Living Water Quilter
Shannon @Shannon Fraser Designs (hi!)
Lisa @Sunlight In Winter Quilts
Jessica @Quilty Habit
Cassandra @The (not so) Dramatic Life
Deanna @Stitches Quilting
Denise @Craft Traditions

This was such an amazing project! I won’t lie, I had several moments of pulling my hair out to design my first paper piecing pattern, but I’m super happy I persevered and figured it out!! My designing skills grew by leaps and bounds on this one!

A special thank you to Yvonne, Cheryl and Stephanie for organizing this fun hop! And to Cloud9 Fabrics for generously donating the fabrics we used. It was my first time playing with Cloud9 Fabrics and I loved how soft their Cirrus Solids line is. I’ve got my eye on several more colours to add to my stash!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you love this block as much as I do. I’ve actually got my eye on creating a larger project using this block, so stay tuned for that 😊

Happy quilting! Oh, and if you get stuck, don’t be shy to reach out to me sfdesigns@outlook.com. I’m always happy to talk about all things quilty!!

xo

Shannon