Country Star Medallion Pattern Progress

Wondering what the Country Star Medallion is? You can read my earlier blog post here for the history on it. It’s a quilt that I made one version of, then a second one which I realize I haven’t shared here. I wrote the whole thing out, figured out the sizing etc. Basically wrote the pattern thinking I’d include it in a future book. But it just didn’t feel right for a book so I decided I’d make it into a PDF pattern to sell. Sounds easy but not so I guess! I luckily have found a ghost writer and a tech editor who have helped me improve the pattern a lot. I’m not making one last quilt (my 5th!) with the pattern to finalize that things are the best they can be.

At some point I decided I wanted it to be fat quarter friendly so I resized the whole thing down just slightly to better work with fat quarters. And so this version of the quilt I decided to try with fat quarters to make sure it would work well. I made my own fat quarter bundle out of my stash. It seems I was feeling a bit Christmas-y. Although my original idea was red and white and then those bits of muted sage green just kind of jumped in!

The thing with this quilt is that it goes together quite quickly with nice big pieces for the most part. BUT, if you want to include the needle turn applique, it will not be quite such a quick make. Which is what I really wanted to do on this quilt. So I quickly finished up the middle portion because I’m obviously doing a test here, not trying to spend the whole winter on it! I’m really loving how the center turned out!

I just need to add the top and bottom rows which have most of the applique. It’s gonna take me a little while to finish those up but I am trying to speed through it, and with needle turn, I’m amazed how much quicker and better I’ve got with just a bit of practice.

Before you turn away from this pattern though, saying you don’t like applique. I’m going to very soon show you 3! other quilts I made with this pattern that have very little or no applique. I used either panels or vintage embroidery or other feature stitching in the corners to give it the extra folk art edge without the handwork.

Here’s my flower basket block, looking wonky. Exactly as it should since it’s supposed to be a simple old fashioned look. Just need to add stems and basket handle.

And there they are, just a bit of stitching with Perle cotton thread. I find this type of applique so satisfying. Something about the tucked under edge that puffs up abit, and just seeing that tiny bit of stitch all the way around.

I’m not going to tell you how to needle turn, just google it on YouTube and you’ll find so many tutorials. Don’t overthink it, just try it out. This big basket is a great shape to start with.

But there are so many things to decide with a pattern. Take for example that star shaped flower. It was kind of a hard shape, at least for me. So should I replace it with just another circle? but I do kind of like the three different kinds of flowers in this block. I could mention in the pattern that if you were a beginner, you could do a circle instead. BUT these types of little suggestions is what I’m tempted to add so many of to a pattern, and this apparently makes it confusion and unprofessional! Oh well, I do hope to have this patten available so soon for you to purchase if you want to make one like it! I feel like it has so much potential for so many different variations!