Aviatrix Medallion - Border #5

Making this quilt feels a bit like giving birth.  I've been at it about 7 months now.  Each border takes more out of me than the last.  Over the last three weeks, I finally finished up Border #5.  There was lots of cursing, and a fair amount of heavy sighing...I even thought "what if I just end it here, no one even needs to know there's another border".  

But just like having a baby...there is no off ramp.  You have to tough it out until the end.  The good thing is, you know it will be worth it.

There are two sets of 20 blocks, one with white centers...

and one with colored centers.

Amazingly enough, when I got the squares sewn together, they were actually the same length and width as the quilt, which qualifies as a small miracle.  No creative stretching or trimming necessary.

Every time my daughter sees me working on this she asks the same thing..."who's that quilt for???".  And I give her the same answer every time, "It's for me. When I was your age in the 80's we had rainbows on everything, and these colors make me really happy."

One more border to go.

Aviatrix Medallion QAL - Progress is Amazing!

Aviatrix Medallion is a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

I loved this pattern from the moment I laid eyes on it.  The rainbow color spoke to the 80"s child in me and said "you NEED to make this rainbow quilt".  When I saw that they had a kit and Quilt-a-long at my local quilt shop (Sew Inspired in Simsbury, CT) I went and bought one right away.  It's just piecing I told myself...yeah, a LOT of piecing, but I can do that.  Maybe. Not so much.

UGH.  Thank GOD for the first class...The instructor went over the cutting for the center piece in great detail, noting that although you got a fat quarter for each color, which is what the pattern called for, you needed a FULL, EXACT fat quarter.  If it was a hair short or crooked, you had to get clever with your cutting.

I tried to take a lot of pictures as I went along.  The diamonds were much harder to line up than I thought...and every single one of the eight had to be ripped out at least once.  I used the templates in the pattern.  My cutting techniques and precision need improvement.

My not so exact diamonds for the center medallion

Much pulling and creative pressing ensued.

The first set of grey offsets helped a ton in "making" things straight

 This project has been a lesson in patience.  And also, in taming my perfectionist shrew.  I only tore the center out once, and I am honestly really happy with how the points came together in the very center.

Look at my points in the center!

I absolutely love the grey fabric that was included in my kit. It's got this amazing texture, it's not a quilting cotton.  I'll have to ask exactly what it is next time I'm at the shop.

Center and border #1

It was so much fun to put the first colored border on.  It really started to feel like the rainbow explosion I was looking for.

Border #2

Although the fourth border was a great deal of piecing, it was also sort of addictive.  I wanted to actually see the blocks finished, and I was chain piecing a lot of it, so I didn't get to see what they looked like until the end of the month.

With Border #3, which was a TON of piecing

As my Aunt Pat says, "the pattern is beginning to emerge".    It's so big now, I have to take it outside to get good pictures.  It was very grey the day I took these.

With the squares for border #5

This is a close up of the grey ("neutral") squares for Border #5.  When you sew them on, they're rectangles, and I was sort of surprised they actually came out like the pattern said they would.

Close up of Border #5

I went to the class today as a drop in.  They went over the next two borders.  The final border set is the butterflies, which will challenge my ability to do angles again.  They are also TONS of piecing, wish me luck in keeping up!

At the end, I'll try to include some pictures of the other color/fabric options people in class chose.  They are all spectacular.