Medallion Magic QAL - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the Medallion Magic Quilt Along! I hope you're ready to cut your fabric this month 😊 If you're new to this QAL, no worries, there's plenty of time for you to join in and I'd love to have you!

I'm aiming for this to be a slow, relaxed quilt along, with not so much to do each month that you can't keep up. We're all too busy to be stressing over keeping up with a QAL! Here's the schedule of events:

January 15th - Gather fabrics and pattern
February 15th - Cutting - today!
March 15th - Center star
April 15th - Borders 1 and 2
May 15th - Borders 3 and 4
June 15th - Borders 5, 6 and 7
August 15th - Finish party link up opens

If you don't have your pattern yet, you can pick up your copy from my Etsy shop in either PDF or printed versions.

Here's my original version, done in Northcott fabrics:

And here's my Island Batik fabric for my QAL version.

You know that feeling that you have all the time in the world to get something done and then all of a sudden you realize it has to be done in, like, three days? That's exactly how I felt about getting the cutting done in time to write this post. I've had the fabric washed and sitting neatly folded since this time last month, when I took that picture. It was even sitting in my laundry room where I saw it every single day and thought, "I need to get that cut soon." And then somehow it was suddenly Monday the 11th and I realized this post would need to go up on Friday, which meant I actually needed to cut that fabric right away. Ha! I've always been good at procrastinating.

I did get it done, though!

Let's be honest - cutting isn't the most exciting part of making the quilt, is it? Not for me, at least, which is maybe why I kept putting it off. Please share your best strategies for getting through the cutting of a big project as painlessly as possible 😊 In the past I've watched an episode of something on Netflix, listened to a podcast or even just listened to music while cutting. I've recently discovered the joys of audio books from the library and I imagine that would be a great distraction, too, but I haven't tried it yet. It works for folding laundry and cleaning, though, and cutting fabric isn't nearly as bad as either of those!

This time around, I started off by taking my fabric with me on my weekly sewing date with my friend Michelle. This both worked and didn't work, lol. I cut about half of the pieces for the quilt, so that's a win, but I probably could have cut out everything in the same amount of time if I'd been by myself. I kept stopping to talk, then I'd have to read the instructions again to remind myself what I was cutting, then count how many of that size I'd already cut, then I'd start talking again...then I'd often have to count again how many I'd cut because I'd already forgotten. This happened more times than I care to admit and I may have spent almost as much time counting how many I'd already cut as I did cutting more pieces. It wasn't the most efficient method, but it was still more fun than it would have been if I'd stayed home 😊

How do you store your WIPs? I usually default to 'precarious piles stacked here and there' but since I'm trying to be more organized that isn't my preferred method anymore. I thought about buying some clear bins to store things in, but I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic I bring into the house, so that didn't feel like a good plan either. So, I'm storing my Medallion Magic quilt in the packaging from a set of sheets I bought in December. Yes, it's still plastic, but at least I'm reusing it rather than buying something new or throwing this in the garbage. The tassel on the zipper pull is just a bonus!

So, that's it for this month. Once your fabrics are cut, link up here so others can see your progress, too. If you're sharing on IG, use #medallionmagicQAL and be sure to tag me so I don't miss it. I'm looking forward to seeing your pretty piles of cut pieces!



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