Friday, July 1, 2016

Night & Stars - Gwennie-Inspired Medallion Quilt

The summer nights of my childhood were devoted to being outside with friends.  We played hide-and-seek or tag, badminton, croquet, or rode bikes.  Summer evenings were long and leisurely, at least as long as half a day.  We played until dark began to creep up and we searched for the first star to make a wish.   By then the lightening bugs flew around us like little stars sailing through the dark.  We caught them in jars to watch the magic for a few minutes.  When the dark descended deeper we sat on the porch steps or on lawn chairs, visiting and enjoying the night, until time to go inside and to bed. 

Some nights, after a good soaking rain, my father and I took flashlights out to search the sodden ground for night crawlers.  We had to be quick!  We envisioned our next fishing trip.

On autumn and winter nights my mother and I sometimes went for walks, bundled in sweaters, or coats and mittens.  Down our macadam street away from the houses toward the edge of our little village we meandered with no destination and no hurry, just a time to enjoy the night.  The stars shone bright and high and we came home refreshed and ready for sleep.

Many childhood memories came to mind as I brainstormed ideas for this "childhood" border.  Several would have made great borders, but night and the stars won.

Gwennie-Inspired medallion quilt along

As it is now this quilt measures about 35" x 39 1/2".  The blue border will finish at 6". 

The theme for the next border is log cabins, chosen by Cathy at Big Lake Quilter.  I love log cabin blocks!  There are so many kinds and so many colors to choose from.  They have many more seams and this will be a bigger border:  I better not procrastinate anything about this border.  Another round of fun begins!

If you'd like to see other Gwennie-inspired medallion quilts, click over to Cynthia's blog, wabi-sabi quilts, where you can see plenty of luscious beauty!  It's not too late to join!

--Nancy.
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50 comments:

  1. What a beautiful border Nancy ! Your stars sparkle in this dark blue ! I love it !

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    1. Thank you for your kind compliment, Cecile. I appreciate it.

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  2. It is beautiful!! Love the stories behind the stars, and I love the little snips of star that show here and there.
    Your new flower centers look good, too, Nancy. Good call!

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    1. Thanks, Janet. I debated about those little stars. At first I kept wanting to push them out of the way with my hand, just like I would do with a bug. I guess they grew on me. I'm satisfied with the flower centers now but I suppose some might think they are a little mild or boring. Quilts look different in person than they do in a photo and I think these work in person but may not hold their own in the photo.

      Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. As always, I appreciate it.

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  3. Nancy... I love your border (it sort of reminds me of Japanese boro - patched indigo pieces -) with the stars. Those little added triangle bits are really effective in making your starry night sparkle. And you paint such a picture of an idyllic childhood playing outside!

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    1. Now that you mention it, Cynthia, I can see that boro would come to mind when looking at the border. I almost removed those little triangles. I kept wanting to swipe them away as I would a bug buzzing before my eyes, but in the end, they stayed. Thanks for your kinds words. I appreciate them.

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  4. I love those twinkly stars! (I went on a lot of those nightcrawler hunts, too, as a child!)

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    1. Thanks, Gayle. Did you grow up in the midwest? Of course, hunting nightcrawlers could be common anywhere that there's rain.

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  5. Beautiful border. I feel like I'm laying in the yard staring up at all the twinkly stars. Hugs

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    1. Thanks, Cathy! It wasn't common for us to lie in the yard to look at stars but we did look up. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

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  6. Love your stars in the night sky, just a perfect balance of night to stars. Great memories.

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    1. Thanks for your kind compliments, Sandi. I appreciate them.

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  7. So pretty! Your post made me remember summer evenings playing tag in our front yard. Your right, we didn't stop until it was too dark to see each other. No lightning bugs here in the West though.

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    1. Thanks, Robin. It was interesting to have "childhood" as a theme for this border. I remembered things I'd forgotten about my childhood. I have heard that there aren't lightening bugs out west. Members come from Utah to Ohio and are so excited by the lightening bugs -- and we take them for common. Ha!

      Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate it.

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. I like it but I'm not sure I love it. I think I still like making traditional quilts more than "liberated," modern quilts.

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  9. You really captured your summer evenings in your border! Beautiful!

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  10. Very nice round...
    Véronique

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  11. Love your description of your childhood summer nights, and love how your beautiful border echoes the starry flowers in your basket. It's perfect!

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    1. Thank you for your kind compliments, Martha. As I was working on the border, adding the stars, I was wondering if they worked with the flowers or against the flowers. I'm pleased that you think they work with the flowers.

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  12. Your childhood sounds a little like mine, except winter wasn't too cold, and we didn't go walking. We sat out on the stoop a lot, though. I love the sound of yours, and I really like the border you made. It's scrappiness is perfect with those stars - and I see those four-pointed corners DID make it in! I really love the flower centers even more now. =)

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    1. Thank you for your kind comments about this border, Susan, and for the comment about the flower centers. What a challenge they gave me. Lol.

      I don't know if you're may age or younger but my childhood was so much simpler than my life is now, or even the lives of my children were when they were younger. Does anyone even take time to look at the stars these days?

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  13. Your work so far is just wonderful. I love your story and you captured it so well and it looks so good with your basket. I could not decide if you changed the color of your flower centers on the basket. It looks perfect whatever you did. I love the whole graceful feel of your work so far.

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    1. Thank you for your kind compliments on this quilt-in-progress and for my description of its inspiration for the first border. You are very generous.

      I did change the flower centers and am glad they seem to work in the photograph. I think they work when looking at the real quilt.

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  14. Oh, yes! Childhood games until dark. Perfect border to depict those days of yore (and yours) (and mine).

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  15. Your night and stars bring back memories for me. I remember laying in the grass after dark and gazing up at all the stars in the sky and watching lightning bugs flitting around. Well done.

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    1. Thank you, Karen. I don't think we laid in the grass. By night it was usually already damp with dew. But we enjoyed watching the stars while sitting or standing.

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  16. Your treasured memories are captured beautifully in your border design, Nancy! I LOVE both your story and your interpretation of it!

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    1. Thank you, Karin. I appreciate your kind comments.

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  17. I love your indigo border and the liberated stars and little bits of white (fireflies) are wonderful! It's so fun to read everyone's memories of their childhood. I think we all had a pretty good time!

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. It has been fun to read all the childhood memories shared to go with this border. I think most of us are enjoying the process (even if one us --me!-- is our of her element). Thank goodness I have a few more weeks for the next border. Even so, I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone interprets it.

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  18. Special memories, and love how you added the stars as your medallion border! Great fabrics, too... that's the perfect blue!

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    1. Thanks for your kind comments, Debra. I'm not a huge fan of blue but I like the range of blues in this border. It seemed to fit a night sky.

      Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate it.

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  19. What a fabulous choice with these memories shining in each stitch, love it

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    1. Thank you, Esther! I appreciate your kind comment.

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  20. What a treasure! I love it and the story as well. This has been a really fun theme.

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    1. Thank you, Wendy. This has been fun. I had such a hard time deciding between so many options for the childhood theme. It was such a broad topic. Log cabins -- they're a little less open but still fun.

      Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate it.

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I appreciate your comments and look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks for stopping by.

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