Macabre Medallion

The big day is here! I can now share what I've done inspired by childhood for the second round of play in the Gwennie Inspired Liberated Medallion quilt along. I admit, at first the prints I'd chosen for this project didn't seem to fit in well with the theme. But then I thought about the fact that we'd had rustic cabins to vacation in throughout my childhood. That was just the light bulb I needed. :- )

Just to refresh your memory, these are the baskets I made to begin my medallion:

My first step was to choose what to put in my log cabin blocks and what to use for the logs. My sister and I were both given piano lessons during our early years. She enjoyed it much more than I did. She's a natural musician.

The hands and the strip of music print above felt very appropriate. I've turned out to be more of a visual artist. ;- )

I also found this "portrait" to use to represent my sister and I. To create a gallery wall I framed the portrait with a postage stamp print. The calico above and below the portraits is something my mother bought for me a long time ago when I was still a fairly new quilt maker. It's been waiting all this time to be put to good use. This isn't quite what I had in mind when I originally chose the print but it turned out to be perfect for this project!

I had to have birds in my quilt. It's become sort of a thing for me. There were some great ravens/crows in the same print I took the sisters out of.

These dancing skeletons are another of my cherished prints. There wasn't much left so I decided to use it up in this quilt. Some of them appear to be playing leap frog. I've also used text prints that feature phrases from classic children's stories.

There's some French text as well since I studied French all throughout my high school years.

Here's the progression of the medallion on my design wall:

And this is where I stopped:

At this point it measures about 33" high and 53" wide. I could have added framing strips to bring it up to nice even numbers but decided to wait to see what the next step will be. And that day has finally arrived! Cathy at Big Lake Quilter will be giving us the next prompt. You can see all the other basket medallion projects via the link-up over on Cynthia's blog.