Week 15 of my FMQ Challenge

I adore reproduction style medallion quilts.  I love them when they have an interesting focal point in the centre of the quilt.  OK, so this can be pieced, appliqued or I could buy a panel.  A few weeks ago, I played with my Derwent Inktense pencils and liked the results.  What if????  I thought I would try painting a block to go in the centre of a medallion quilt.  For a kick off, I used a copyright free diagram from one of Dover's  publications.  I scanned the diagram, then resized it to about 18 inches long using Photoshop, saved it as a Photoshop pdf and printed it through Adobe reader using the banner option.  I taped the pages together and placed them under of piece of white PFD cotton.  I attached the paper to the cotton using quilting pins, so it wouldn't shift as I traced it. I traced the diagram onto the cotton using a fine Micron pen.

Once the diagram was transferred, I ironed a piece of freezer paper to the back of the cotton.  This provides a stabilised surface to colour and paint on.

I used my Derwent Intense pencils to colour in the drawing on the cotton.  I kept the pencil pressure fairly light as a little goes a long way once it is wet.

I used textile medium and fine paintbrushes to wet the coloured surface, attempting to not stray outside my lines.

Once all the coloured areas had been painted, I removed the freezer paper from the back, as it allows the cotton dries faster.

Next, I ironed some medium fusible stabiliser to the back of the cotton, followed by two layers of polyester wadding.  I hald the layers together with quilting pins.

Starting near the middle of the piece, I used about 8 different colours of Isacord thread to quilt the motif.

Once the motif was entirely quilted, I cut away one layer of polyester wadding around the motif at the back of the work.

Lastly, I echo quilted twice around the motif and FMQ'd a swirly leaf motif over the white background.

Close ups of the quilting

I'm sure there are a lot of other methods I could have used to achieve similar results and would not suggest this is a good method.  I make it up as I go along.  I have made lots of mistakes along the way.  It's the way I learn.  Happy quilting!