Freeform Block of the Month – Month 6

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This is part 6 of the Freeform Block of the Month Series. Click Here for the intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

We’re on the home stretch! This month was especially fun since we got to work on that beautiful center medallion, the focal point of the Freeform quilt. Here’s the original Freeform quilt, as a reminder.

Freeform, designed by Jean Nolte
Freeform quilt

We got a lot of fabrics this time, some that we’d never used before. There were a few pinks; we haven’t used any pink since the first month. I took a photo of the fabrics before I started but later I realized that one of the green spatter prints was folded up in another fabric and didn’t make it into the photo.

all the fabrics for the center medallion, minus one.
all the fabrics for the center medallion, minus one.

Since I saved all my leftover fabric from the previous months, I had a lot of options to switch up the fabrics this month. I had mentioned that I would probably make a few changes to the medallion but I wasn’t sure exactly what changes. For the center diamond with all the piecing, I did make a few subtle changes from the original design, keeping the values similar but just changing the prints. Here’s a close-up of the original medallion design.

Original medallion design.
Original medallion design.

And here’s my version of the center block. You can see I swapped the placement of light green and dark green, used a dark purple in the some of the wedge-shaped patches instead of the blue, used a different pink in the center and a different green in the thin border.

My modified center block.
My modified center block.

I put the center block up on my design wall, along with the triangles, to see if I might like a light color in that area instead of the green. I did. You’ll notice I also put thin borders on those pink dot triangles, just for a little extra pop. I made them the same width as the thin borders on the center block.

On the final round of borders for those setting triangles is where I made the most changes. I decided to make the 3 borders more of a gradient than the contrasting stripes that are in the original.

My medallion, mostly completed.
My medallion, mostly completed.

Very observant people might notice that those final borders are not joined and mitered, I just positioned them to show what the final product will look like. So I still have a little work to do to finish the medallion and then I’m done! Well, sort of, I still have to sew all the parts and pieces together to complete the quilt top. I’ll be sure to check back in to show you the finished quilt top when I’ve done that. Plus after the quilting too, I’ll be so proud that I’ll have to share it!

If you did this project too, I hope you had as much fun as I did! The Paintbrush Studios fabrics were beautiful and fun to work with, the design was challenging but not too hard and I had fun doing little customizations here and there. I can’t wait to finish up and have a big, lovely bed quilt to enjoy!

Paintbrush Studio Fabrics

Happy quilting!
Gigi

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